Condemned with Reason
by writerspassion18
Summary: A storm must be coming… She thought to herself, and then chuckled at it, thinking that it was the proper sendoff.Draco was running free when he was supposed to be in Azkaban and Hermione had let him go. That little secret won't be secret for long... *Sequel to Aurors vs. the Condemned, Part Two of The Condemned Series - A Dramione Trilogy*
1. Sweet Sanctuary

Hermione woke up to the smell of fresh clean air mingled in with sea salt. She lay in bed, eyes shut, just breathing in and out and listening to the waves of the ocean that were faint yet relaxing all the same. Stretching, she allowed her arms to spread out from her sides, one casually dangling off the side of the bed, and the other sweeping the other side and reaching up and underneath the pillow that was lying next to her. Hermione opened her eyes then and looked over to her left. She furrowed her brow, wondering where Draco had gone since the last thing she remembered was him lying there next to her, both of them trying to keep up a hearty conversation though their words were slurred and eyelids falling.

She smiled at that. Draco had fallen asleep first, but he was trying his hardest not to. He kept changing positions on the bed as if to give his body something to do so he could get some extra energy. Hermione distinctly remembered him talking and then, though at first in full sentences, his words turned into mush, running into each other until they all came to a halt and a small snore came from his lips.

Now Hermione was wondering where he had gone off to and really wished that she had been up before him so she'd know where he was. Last night was her first time being at the condo and though Draco had shown her everything there was no way for her to remember her way around. Sighing, she rolled out of bed, pulling down the shirt she had slept in so that it covered more of her legs and looked around her room.

It was a massive bedroom with a large bed, a chaise longue, two comfy chairs, both situated on opposite sides of the room, a walk in closet as well as a tall and wide wardrobe, a night table on either side of the bed, and a personal bathroom. The walls were painted a delicate light blue, all door frames painted in white, of which the two colors complimented each other beautifully. It was quite the magnificent room. And what topped it off the most was the fact that there was a balcony.

Hermione smiled at it and hugged herself as she walked over to the two French doors, lightly covered by white sheer curtains. She gently pushed the curtains aside and placed her hands on the silver handles and pushed the doors open. She immediately felt the sea air surround her and the same smell that she had woken up to, yet more profound. She stood at the edge, leaning against the marble pillars that was the railing and looked down below her.

 _So that's where he is…_ Hermione thought to herself as she saw the outline of Draco walking along the seashore. He seemed pensive. His face was serious and from time to time he ran his hands through his hair as though he was berating himself over something, then kicking the sand before being calm again. Hermione then began wondering if he did this often, and then, figuring that he did, decided that he wouldn't be doing that anymore. At least for as long as she was there for.

"Enjoying your walk?" Hermione called down to him. She wasn't sure if her voice would carry all the way to Draco, but he stopped walking, looked up in her direction and then smiled. He motioned with his hand in a "come join me" motion, and she nodded, retreating herself back into her bedroom and closing the French doors after her. She didn't bother dressing in actual clothing and instead donned a silk robe that she had found hanging in the wardrobe. After tying the sashes securely, Hermione ventured through the condo, hoping that the smell of the sea air would lead her to the front door. Eventually it did, and she put a hand up to her eyes for a moment or two until they were accustomed to the sun. By the time they were she was beside Draco, having now fallen in line with his slow steps along the shore, her feet being splattered by the incoming tide as were his.

"Did you sleep well?" Draco asked her. Hermione nodded. She took a small glance at the condo that was growing smaller behind her and she nodded once more.

"Very well… The condo's nice, Malfoy. I wasn't expecting you to do anything small, but I wasn't expecting _that_ either." She sighed and glanced down at her feet and watched the water cover them and then retract. "I'd come here every day if I could."

"And I'd let you." He smiled. "And speaking of that, how'd you get away from Potter and Weasley?"

Hermione looked up at him and rolled her eyes. "Why did you have to say it like that?"

"Like what?"

"Like the way you did. Why couldn't you just say, how did you get away from home? Or, how did you get away without anyone questioning you?"

Draco stared at her confusedly and then chuckled. "The way I phrased the question bothers you?"

"Of course it does. Why is it that you, and just about everyone I know, seem to think that Harry, Ron, and I are just _conveniently_ joined at the hip?"

"Because you easily could be." Draco laughed. Hermione pursed her lips, trying to keep herself from smiling, but slowly lost the fight against the muscles in her cheeks and jaws. "But to make you happy, how did you get away from _everyone_?"

"Thank you. And it wasn't that hard. I wasn't in England. I've been on sabbatical ever since our little _adventure_ and travelling. I was in Australia when I got your letter."

"And you cut your vacation short just to see me? Well, I think someone likes me."

Hermione laughed and removed some of the hair that had blown into her face. "As you've already said, I'm a curious woman. Of course I had to come. And so, _Darius_ ," She emphasized. "Do you have a last name to go with that?"

"Vaughn,"

"Hmm, Darius Vaughn. I like it, though of course I like your old name better. Where'd you get it? Obituaries..?"

"It was prepared." Draco told her and Hermione scrunched up her face in confusion as to how that could possibly be. "People like me need backups, Granger; the best of us anyway. There's only so far we can go and one day, though it may be a long time away, we'll get caught. But if there's a way to get out, we'll take it, so we all have aliases."

" _All of you?_ "

Draco nodded. "All of us… They're prepared way in advance; family last name and history researched to a tee so that it can't be traced and discredited. They're reviewed and updated at the end of every year. I've had this Darius character ready for the past five years now. To be honest I've been looking forward to using it." He smiled and motioned behind him. "Brilliant as hell condo to use that comes along with it."

Hermione agreed. Being Draco Malfoy was fine, but he didn't have Darius Vaughn's condo. "Alright then, Mr. Vaughn, what do you do around here for fun? The beach is lovely, but it can only keep you entertained for so long."

"I go to parties."

"You can't be serious."

"Why can't I?"

"You're supposed to be in _hiding_ , Malfoy, not living it up."

"I am hiding." Draco argued. "Hiding in plain sight,"

"A surefire way to get caught if you ask me." Hermione shrugged her shoulders and tied her robe tighter around her. "Aurors are on the lookout, _daily_ , for anything new or strange. A rich young man who suddenly pops in from nowhere is certainly new."

"I can understand that, but look at it this way. What looks more suspicious? The rich young man who goes out, has a good time and mingles once in a while, or the rich young man who sticks to himself, locked away in his condo, a complete recluse?" Draco coked a brow at her to gain an answer, but he began to smile as Hermione rolled her eyes, apparently seeing his point. "The one who sticks to himself looks a hell of a lot more suspicious than the one out in the world. The one out in the world obviously has nothing to hide."

"Alright fine," Hermione gave in and cupped her hands behind her back. "I suppose going out to a party or two during the week isn't _that_ bad."

"I'm glad that you think so." Draco grinned as he fished into his pants pocket and pulled out what appeared to be an invitation. "There's a party tonight, and it says here that I can bring a guest."

"Oh really? And let me guess, black tie?"

"Naturally,"

"And I suppose you just thought that during my sabbatical I went to tons of ritzy parties and happened to have a few gowns in my trunks?"

"No offense, but I don't think that you've ever been to a 'ritzy' party."

"Oh yeah, Malfoy, like that didn't offend me at all." Hermione chuckled, and Draco laughed along with her to ease the tension and then subtly turned their walk in the opposition direction back towards the condo.

"Well, have you?"

"No, but that's entirely beside the point. I don't have any gowns at all-"

"Yes, you do." Draco countered. If Hermione wasn't mistaken she could see him blushing slightly as he took a second to massage the back of his neck with his hand. "I had a bit of an early start this morning. They're all in your closet, six of them."

Hermione was astounded. She didn't know quite what to say, though "thank you" would've been the appropriate response. Instead, she replied coyly, "You don't know my dress size."

"I guessed." He crossed his arms and gave a triumphant smile. "And I don't think I was wrong."

* * *

"Damn good guess," Hermione said to herself as she stood in front of a large mirror. After her and Draco's stroll on the beach shore, they had come back to the condo and fixed themselves something to eat. They had had a minor competition in the kitchen after Hermione became thoroughly amused that Draco knew how to cook something that wasn't a cheat like ready-made meals. He went on to say that cooking wasn't that hard of a thing to do, and Hermione went on to comment that _of course_ it wasn't hard when magic was involved. She continued in saying that food was one thing that magic shouldn't touch, and that it was better if done by hand. To that Draco laughed and challenged her that they each make a portion of the breakfast their own way.

"And if mine is better, you have to wear the sapphire gown, no exceptions." Draco had told her, and Hermione cocked a brow, asking if the gown was something she would object to in the first place since his winning the bet would make it obligatory. He then promptly shook his head and said no.

"They're all lovely. I just want to make sure that you wear _that_ particular one tonight."

And because Hermione's body was covered by soft sapphire blue fabric it was obvious that Draco's part of the breakfast was better. But whether he had won or not, she would've chosen the dress. Like he had said, all of the dresses were lovely, each having its own distinct style, a wonderful color, and quality that didn't come cheap in the slightest. But there was something about the sapphire gown that had caught Hermione's eye instantly when she had opened the closet doors; aside from the fact that it was placed at the very front of the closet.

The top part of the dress was a corset-like fit, diamonds (faux or not, Hermione wasn't sure) embroidered at the top of the bust line and some sprinkled all around from chest to waist. From the waist down to the floor, the dress left a gentle trail. The outer layer was a sheer material, a heavier set of soft fabric layered underneath.

Accessories had been within the closet as well; four silver bracelets so two could be on each wrist, a delicate silver necklace with a lone diamond-drop pendant, and diamond-drop earrings to match. With her hair gracefully in curls, reaching an inch or so passed her shoulders, and some tied back by a sapphire clip, Hermione couldn't imagine herself ever looking like this again. How Draco could piece something like this together was beyond her when she knew that it was near impossible for her to do anything like this for herself.

Instead of ruminating on this idea, Hermione decided to live it up and take it all in. She stayed in front of the mirror for countless minutes until there was a knock on her bedroom door.

"All dressed?" Draco asked from behind the door. She called that she was and turned in the door's direction as it opened. He had looked good as well; a fancy suit to match the lavishness of her dress, hair done to perfection, and cufflinks properly placed. As he fully stepped into the room and spotted Hermione, he stopped and smiled, not being subtle in the slightest in sizing her up and down.

"Now do you see why I wanted you to wear that one?"

Hermione smiled and nodded, taking one last look in the mirror. "Yes, I do. It's a wonderful dress, Malfoy, truly." She turned to him and gave a complacent sigh. "And I think that you're doing my clothes shopping for the rest of my life."

Draco laughed. He walked over to her and extended his arm. "I accept. Shall we go then?"

Hermione gave a small nod, picked up her silver clutch that had been on the bed, and linked her arm with Draco's. Apparation was far better than Floo, especially with how dressed up they were. And soon they were off, more than likely to be the talk of the year.

* * *

 **Author's note:** Hello! Welcome to the sequel to Aurors vs. the Condemned. Just have to start out saying thanks for sticking with me and all of your support is fantastic. This story has a bit of...mystery to it I would say and a bit of twists and turns. I encourage all sorts of hypotheses of what you think will happen as the story goes along :D

Happy reading!

-WP


	2. Mingling and Invitations

Hermione had never been one for a lot of attention. She hated to be in the limelight, feverishly conscious of tons of eyes pouring over her and never knowing if the stares were in admiration or disapproval. But at least this time around she knew that the lingering gazes had to be on the admiration side, as conceited as that may have sounded. Either it was that or jealousy, which was still good on her part.

She and Draco had apparated to a beautiful garden, beneath their feet being a flat, stone-paved pathway so as not to tread on the grass. It was a lush green, beautifully tainted with all sorts of flowers planted along the edge of the pathway. As they walked towards the massive mansion that lay ahead of them, Hermione admired the cherubs that were on either side of her every five feet or so. And just before the doors that led to the festivities inside there was a large fountain. The center of it was yet another cherub, and instead of wings a steady jet of water was springing up from its back, arched in a very "wing-like" manner. It was truly a pretty sight.

"Whoever owns this place has quite the thing for angels."

"His wife does." Draco replied as he led Hermione around the extravagant fountain and to the entrance. "I think she'd give her right leg to see a real cherub if she could."

Hermione held in her laugh as they entered the mansion. She had already felt a tad uncomfortable as they were travelling through the garden, there being a few of the guests scattered about and taking in the newcomers. But now they were bidding soft hellos to members of the social elite with Hermione carefully hanging back in conversation as Draco introduced her. Most, if not all of the guests, hadn't needed telling who she was. Any friend of Harry Potter was well-known, and so what struck them the most was what on earth was she doing there?

"How do you know Darius?" one woman asked who, if Hermione wasn't mistaken, seemed to be completely taken aback that _she_ of all people was the one on Draco's arm. Draco had jumped in on this question and simply said that they had met a while ago and were good friends. The woman then nodded, clearly unsatisfied with this answer, but took it nonetheless. She was the last of the guests that Hermione and Draco talked to, and they finally managed to take refuge at a round table already occupied with three others, their bodies absent, but their belongings holding their place.

"And to think Vernon and Irene thought that everyone would be talking about the new décor of their dining hall." Draco chuckled as he sipped a bit of champagne. Hermione nervously followed suit and fiddled with her thumbs.

"And it's a good thing that they're not? Word travels fast, you know."

"…Do you think it would be all that bad if Potter and Weasley knew you were here?"

"Aside from the fact that I'm supposed to be in Australia for another two weeks..?" Hermione sighed. She looked around at everyone in their evening best, catching a few eyes and gently raising her glass to show her acknowledgement of them. "I can work around it. Besides, who says that I can't suddenly gain a life?"

Draco smiled. "I'll drink to that."

"Ah, no, no, no… Drunk apparating is how you get splinched, Darius."

Hermione looked up to the new voice that had joined their conversation. It was a man who, if she didn't say so herself, was very handsome: dirty blonde hair, dimples as he smiled, hazel eyes, and proved to be just as tall as Draco once he stood to greet him.

"Christian," Draco shook his hand and drank what he had intended to before being interrupted. "I never get drunk, you know that. Besides, I don't think my date would let me."

Hermione grinned and gently shook her head as she rose to her feet. "Absolutely not…" She turned to Christian and politely outstretched her hand. "I'm-"

"Hermione Granger," He finished, taking her hand and planting a small kiss on it before letting it go. "Of course I should've let _you_ tell me that. I bet you're tired of everyone beating you to the punch like that."

"Actually no, I'm not. It saves me from talking and I can sip champagne instead."

Christian laughed as did Draco and Hermione gave a tiny side chuckle as she drained the rest of the contents of her glass and set it down on the table.

"And you're funny too. A complete package there, eh Darius?"

"Yeah, I'd say so." Draco smiled at Hermione who was terribly glad that she had put enough rouge on to mask her furious blushing.

"Well, I'll let you two have at it then." Christian said as he began walking away. "I'll be seeing you two again, I'm sure."

Hermione watched him leave and then began studying him. She felt as though she had seen him from somewhere, but she wasn't entirely sure. For certain she had never met him in person. _With a face like that I'd never forget it if it had once been in front of me…_ She thought to herself, and then was brought away from her private thoughts when Draco asked if she had wanted to dance. Hermione agreed, and was led to the dance floor in the company of many others who had been temporarily distracted by the new dancers.

"I hope my biggest fear doesn't get realized within the next few minutes." Hermione said as they took the customary dancer's position and began to move to the soft tune that was floating through the air.

"What fear is that?"

"Tripping and falling while in this wonderful, yet dreadfully long gown."

Draco laughed. Hermione didn't think she had ever seen him so happy before and he shook his head in sheer amusement at her. "I'll tell you what. If you go down, we'll make it look like I dipped you, okay?"

Hermione nodded as they moved and spun to a song that was perfect for the waltz. She only hoped that the music stuck to anything that was slow and required little foot movement. She had taken ballroom dancing lessons a child as a consequence of her mother's ambition that her only daughter might one day want to take ballet (which Hermione had openly objected to). She was surprised that she hadn't forgotten what she had learned, and even Draco seemed impressed that she had yet to step on his toes or, as she had suggested, taken a fall.

"Everyone's cleared the floor." Draco said as they twirled, and Hermione took a quick look about her and found that he was right. Most, if not all the other dancers, had secluded themselves to the walls in order to watch them. And now she felt completely nerve-wracked. Draco had taken notice and gave her a gentle squeeze of the hand.

"You have admirers." He nodded to the crowd and Hermione immediately protested.

"Admirers..? They don't even know me. They're _your_ friends. How do you even know all of these people? It's only been eight months."

"It's the way upper class works, believe it or not. Meet one member of the elite and you know them all. And by the way, they're not my friends. They're acquaintances, nothing more."

"Must be sad then… With your _situation_ you'll never have any real friends."

"Oh, I have one." Draco said proudly. He gave Hermione a twirl and, even though she wasn't falling over her dress, dipped her as well. "I have one great friend." He smiled before letting her up. "And she's a wonderful dancer."

* * *

A round of applause had been given for their dance and Hermione and Draco went their separate ways just for a bit. A group of men had called Draco over, but he hadn't wanted to be rude and leave Hermione alone. She had jokingly said that she was a big girl and could suffer ten minutes without him. She told him that she would be out in the garden and now she was staring up at the stars by the fountain she had seen when she had first gotten there. Despite the noise of the party not too far from her, it didn't disturb the serenity she felt at that moment. Though, a few minutes later the sound of someone's shoes and the gentle tinkling of two glasses hitting one another had taken her attention away.

"Do you know what everyone's saying in there?" Christian asked her. He casually walked over to her and handed her one of the glasses of champagne that he was holding. Hermione shrugged as she received it and took a small sip.

"Nothing awful, I hope."

"Oh, no, no, far from it… They're all wondering what you're doing with the mysterious Darius Vaughn."

Hermione gave a soft huff and smiled as the rim of her glass touched her lips. "Including you?" She asked before taking another taste. Christian smiled as well, drinking from his glass as she did, though taking a longer draw.

"Especially me," He nodded and chose to sit down beside her. "Let's face it, Hermione. No one here knows you personally, but we do know _of_ you. This doesn't really suit you."

"No, it doesn't." Hermione agreed, knowing that what Christian meant by "this" was the whole black tie, china doll parading, cucumber sandwich-eating type society. "But, believe it or not I don't find it to be _that_ bad. I certainly don't look like this every day." She laughed, looking down at herself and remembering exactly how she looked at the moment. "But I could grow to like it to a very tolerable degree."

"Is that so?" Christian finished off his champagne and Hermione watched as he fished around inside of an inner pocket of his jacket. Once he found what he was looking for he handed it to her and attempted to drink out of his empty glass before, embarrassingly, removing it from his mouth.

"You and I should continue this conversation when I'm not so…fuzzy." He chuckled and then stood. "A name of a nice little luncheon is on the paper I gave you. Two pm is okay for you?"

Hermione looked up at him and then began to peer over his shoulder. She could see Draco mingling with a few people. Well, not quite so. It seemed as though he was trying to push them away by politely saying that he couldn't talk. He was heading to where she was, and Hermione looked back at the piece of paper in her hand and then resettled her eyes on Christian.

"...I…don't know if that'll be such a good idea."

Christian frowned, followed Hermione's eyes that had drifted once again and then turned back to her with a curious look on his face.

"Are you two together?"

"What?" Hermione nearly dropped her champagne glass and instead knocked over her clutch purse. "No, we're not. We're just-"

"Undecided…-?"

"No-"

"So you _are_ together?"

"We're…" Hermione sighed. She bent over and picked up her fallen clutch as Draco stepped out from the doors, quickly scanning the surroundings for her. "Good friends… We're really good friends, Christian."

Christian nodded, clearly not believing her and then raised his hands in defeat. "Well, alright then… Either way I get the feeling that you just might want to ask your _good friend_ Darius if having lunch with me would be okay. If it's not, and you don't show up, I promise you that I won't be offended."

Hermione nodded and by the time Draco had made his way over Christian was leaving her side. The two men acknowledged each other as they passed and before Draco grew any closer she stuffed the piece of paper Christian had given her into her clutch and snapped it shut.

"Sorry that I took so long." Draco apologized, but Hermione waved him off and smiled.

"It's fine. As you saw I had a bit of company."

"No better company to be in than Christian's I say." He shrugged as he glanced towards the mansion. "Other than mine, anyway," Draco added in a laugh and then extended his arm to her. "Ready to go..?"

"So soon..?"

"You don't want to leave? Well, well, well, someone's grown fond of playing dress up."

"Oh, for Merlin's sake," Hermione rolled her eyes as she shook her head at him. "I'm _only saying_ that we've only been here for an hour and a half or so. I thought these things lasted forever?"

"They do." Draco said as Hermione slipped her arm under his. "But you and I both know that I should limit my time out as much as possible."

Hermione agreed, and the two of them headed down the stone pathway that they had come up when they had first came. As they neared the apparation spot Hermione gave the mansion and the beautiful garden one last look. It truly was a beautiful place, and amidst the many cherubs Hermione could see Christian, and she was suddenly reminded of the piece of paper he had given her that was burning a hole in her clutch.

* * *

 **Author's note:** Here goes chapter two! I'm curious to know what you're thinking (if any of you) about Christian. I must admit he's my favorite character in this :).

Thanks for reading!

-WP


	3. Lunch Dates and Deals

Back at the condo it was just as dark as it was at the party. Hermione could then guess that Draco's home and the party were located in the same time zone, but after that stopped thinking about it. It was all supposed to be a mystery for her anyway.

"How did you meet the people who had invited you to the party?" Hermione asked. They were both standing out on the balcony of her bedroom and had been there for the past half hour.

"Through other people who were there… It all started with Robert Iverson. Met him while I was wandering about town early in."

"Merlin, you really don't know the definition of laying low, do you?"

Draco laughed. He leaned against the railing and shrugged his shoulders. "I've got to eat, don't I? Besides, it was only a twenty minute run. I knew what I wanted and was planning on going in and getting out, just like that."

"And instead you did that and made an acquaintance for life."

Hermione placed her hands over her shoulders and rubbed them. Being by the sea made the night a bit cold and after a fierce cool breeze hit her she led the way back into her bedroom and Draco followed, closing the balcony doors after him.

"Granger, we've already discussed that I can't be a complete hermit."

"Yes, I know, I know." Hermione said as she walked over to her bed where her clutch was sitting at the edge of it.

"But if makes you feel any better, none of the guests live anywhere near here. In fact where we just came from is on an island far from here. Does that satisfy you?"

"Very much so,"

"Thought it might, but um… What are you looking for?"

Draco was staring at her amusingly as her entire arm was submerged in her clutch. She retracted her arm and placed her hands on her hips.

"My wand… I dropped it in there before we left and now it's absolutely impossible to find. I need it if I really want to get out of this." Hermione gestured to the dress and Draco laughed.

"May I?" He politely asked with his wand drawn out. Hermione nodded and moved out of the way from where her clutch laid. Though, as she did this and watched Draco edge closer, she became confused as he clearly walked pass her clutch and stood behind her. A second later she felt the faintly visible zipper on her dress slide down. Hermione held the dress up with her hands so that it wouldn't fall down and turned around to face him. He was grinning, as was she.

"You could've just found my wand, you know."

"I know. But where's the fun in that?"

Hermione rolled her eyes and walked away from him and towards her walk-in closet. "Can you find my wand, _please_?" She called after she had stepped fully inside. She heard him say that he would and she quickly slipped off the dress, hung it up neatly, and found her t-shirt. Just as she was putting it on, Draco's voice reached her ears.

"Planning on going to Kary's Koffee House sometime soon?"

"What?" Hermione came out from the closet fully-clothed and confused with what he was asking her. But then she understood exactly what Draco was talking about as he held up the piece of paper that Christian had given her.

"Oh…that…" She was cursing in her mind and was completely annoyed with herself for not remembering that that was in there. "I, um, hadn't decided. Christian invited me."

"Oh,"

Hermione watched as Draco set the paper on the bed with the rest of her things that he had fished out of her clutch. She was anxiously staring at his face and trying to read it because that "oh" hadn't sounded too happy in the slightest. Unfortunately his face was unreadable as oftentimes it was.

"Go then," Draco advised her and Hermione crossed her arms about her chest with a brow cocked.

"Go?"

"Yeah, why not..? Christian's obviously expecting you to show and, well, you can't stand the man up, now can you?"

"…No, I guess not." Hermione was scratching her head. Somehow or another she had imagined Draco not being too pleased about Christian asking her out, even if it was only for a friendly little lunch. The fact that he was being so nonchalant about this was setting her off balance some. But if he was telling her to go, well then… "In that case, can you give me the address?"

"A portkey," Draco nodded. "I can give you a portkey to get there and to come back. You're not supposed to know where you are, remember?"

* * *

Draco had left her room and came back a few minutes later dressed for bed which constituted as a pair of PJ bottoms and a navy blue tank. They took their nightly positions, both of them taking up one side of the bed and staring at the other as they talked of random things until they couldn't fight sleep anymore. They lost the fight at about three a.m. and in the morning, unlike the day before, Draco was still there, lying on his stomach and his head buried in the pillow.

 _He's such the sound sleeper…_ Hermione thought to herself, and as though she had voiced those words instead of keeping them to herself, Draco's eyes fluttered open, and he sleepily joked about her watching him as he slept. Though, of course, she had kept quiet about yesterday night when she had opened her eyes a speck as she repositioned her body to see Draco staring at her sleeping form.

The morning flew by with breakfast made the magical way (to which Hermione had rolled her eyes) and she and Draco sitting very close to the shoreline and getting their clothes completely soaked through. By the time it neared two p.m. and Hermione had changed into dry clothes, Draco knocked on her door and came in after she said that it was okay.

"Here're the portkeys." Draco said as he handed them to her in envelopes. "This first one will take you there."

"Thanks," Hermione smiled as she placed the portkey to bring her back inside of her handbag and held the other in her hand. "I shouldn't be long. An hour tops, I expect."

"What are you telling me that for? It's not like you have a curfew."

"It's called common courtesy, Malfoy. Would you rather me out all day?"

"Of course not, and besides," Draco began to smile some and attempted to hide it by heading towards the door. "I don't think you could have that much fun with him anyway. Just saying,"

Hermione laughed as he shut the door behind him and she stared at the portkey in the envelope. With her wand, her handbag in hand and a light jacket inside, she placed a hand on the portkey and was whisked away. When she felt her feet hit the ground Hermione was glad that she had brought that jacket along. She quickly slipped it on and then walked out of an alley that the portkey that transported her to.

 _Such a neat little town…_ Hermione thought as she looked around. It was a quiet area with only a few shoppes on her right and left. She half expected for the ground to be cobble-stoned, but it wasn't, and instead of looking any more like the tourist that she was, she found Karey's Koffee House only a few paces off. As she entered in the petite café it didn't take too long to find Christian who had taken a table more towards the back and rather secluded from the other customers who were heartily enjoying their meals.

"I'm interested to know if you thought that I'd show up." Hermione said as she walked over to him. Christian looked up from the menu that he was holding and smiled.

"Does it matter what I thought?" Christian asked subtly and set the menu down. "You're here now, right?"

"Right,"

Hermione took her seat and a few seconds after a waitress came up to them. To be honest, Hermione wasn't all that hungry since she and Draco had had a big (and late) breakfast. But it would've been rude not to order anything at all so she sucked it up and ordered something that wouldn't upset her stomach and gave a soft yawn after the waitress had left.

"Tired?"

"Oh, I'm sorry." Hermione apologized. "Yes, I'm just a little tired. I didn't go to sleep until late last night. Darius and I were up talking for quite some time."

"Oh," was Christian's only reply as he sipped some of his tea that had been on the table before she came. Hermione narrowed her eyes at him slightly, distinctly remembering Draco giving her that same-sounding "oh." Maybe Draco could get away from explaining that to her, but Christian wouldn't.

"You don't believe that all Darius and I did was talk?"

Christian choked on his tea and set the cup down as he gave off a few coughs to settle himself down. He looked up at her, clearly embarrassed at himself, and all Hermione was doing was smiling and then thanking the waitress who had brought the tea she had asked for.

"It's none of my business if it wasn't." Christian replied. Hermione nodded and agreed that it wasn't, but then forced a small laugh in order to lighten the tension that she had caused.

"Like I said at the party, we're just friends. I'll be sad to go when the time comes for it."

"Heading back to England soon, are you?"

Hermione wondered if she should've said that, but then deemed that it would've only caused damage if she wasn't a well-known individual. So she nodded and sighed. "Pretty soon, yes… I'm on vacation right now. Within a week or so it's back to work for me."

"Well, don't you sound excited." Christian laughed. "What do you do?"

"You don't know?"

"Should I?"

"Usually there're two things I never have to do. Introduce myself or say what I do for a living. Quite the consequence of being Harry Potter's friend."

"True, but this is one of those instances where I play ignorant so it doesn't look like I've been stalking your life. How would that make me look?"

Hermione grinned. _He's a smart one…_ She thought contentedly, and remarked how Christian's eyes danced and seemed to be in tune with the smile he was presenting to her.

"How do you like working at the Ministry?" He eventually asked. "It's good?"

"It's…satisfying." Hermione replied hesitantly, which failed to go pass him. He wasted no time in pointing out her not-so-convincing reply, and she sighed. "…My vacation is a bit more extensive than the regular month off. I've been in danger for most of my life. When I became an Auror life was better. But after that horrible thing Matthew Thorn called a television show, I realized that life could become just as chaotic again."

"…I remember that." Christian frowned. He thanked the waitress who had come up to their table and brought their food and then continued. "But it worked out in the end, didn't it? Everything turned out okay. Well, except that Malfoy fellow… He managed to escape, didn't he?"

Hermione stuffed a forkful of food into her mouth and nodded. She didn't want to speak in fear that her lips would blurt out the truth. "Yes, he did. We'll never be able to find him."

"What? No faith in yourself or your fellow Aurors?"

"Oh, no, I have faith us. We're good at what we do, but Malfoy… He's better. It took Harry years to catch him. Now that he's out again, I'm sure that he's taken the necessary precautions to make sure that he's never caught again."

Christian nodded to her comments and then changed the subject. He understood her "extensive" vacation meaning to be a sabbatical, and he went on to ask her where she had been travelling to. Hermione told him and talked of all the wonderful things that she had seen, things she had bought, what she had done, and the people she had met. This was a great lead-way into Christian asking if that was how she had met Darius. Hermione was a little nervous in answering that question and he could tell. He tried easing her by saying that he was only interested because Darius seemed to have "appeared out of thin air."

"The whole social elite wants to know his story, including me." He said, and Hermione grew uncomfortable. She then picked up the lie that she had prepared with Draco when they were out on the beach earlier that day.

"I met him in Italy. I had been lost and hadn't a single clue as to where I was going. Darius helped me."

"He knows Italian?"

Hermione replied yes and smiled big, for that little fact was actually true. Christian looked impressed, and she had been truly amazed when Draco had told her; something about learning it from a distant Italian relative as he was growing up.

After the lunch was over, which happened to last close to two hours, they left the shoppe and awkwardly stood outside of it for a moment or two.

"Well, thank you for lunch."

"Thank you for not standing me up."

Hermione laughed and nodded, telling him that it wasn't in her nature to be _that_ awful to someone. As she gave one last goodbye and turned to leave, Christian called her back, asking where she was going.

"The apparation spot is in this direction."

"Uh…" _Damn..._ Hermione fumbled in her mind. Obviously he had expected that she had apparated there, not gotten there by portkey. Would he let her go that easy without a reasonable response as to why she was going a different route? "I thought that I might stick around town for a little bit. You know, just for a bit."

 _Please, don't say you'll stay too. Please, PLEASE, don't say that you'll tag along…_

"You're sure?"

"Yes,"

"….We'll, alright then." Christian scratched his head and then shrugged his shoulders. "I'd stay, but I have to get going."

"That's alright." Hermione reassured him with a smile, but then changed it to a small frown. "I'd say see you around, but it's not at all that likely that I will, is it?"

"No, unless I have permission to owl you from time to time..? Do I?"

"Sure,"

Christian left a few seconds after that with a contented facial expression. Hermione followed him with her eyes until he disappeared behind a corner. Once she was sure he was gone, she went back to the same place she had appeared. After making sure that she was in the clear, Hermione took the second portkey that was in her handbag between her fingers. The familiar tug on her stomach was felt and soon she was back in her bedroom at Draco's condo, the weather significantly warmer than when she was with Christian.

* * *

There had only been two weeks of Hermione's sabbatical left when she was in Australia, and she spent those fourteen days with Draco. She had to admit that that had been the best part of her vacation. They talked all night, woke up late in the day, argued, but made up some seconds after, walked along the beach shore, played in the sand like little children, and went out to three more parties after the first.

Now it was over. Hermione's trunks were packed and stationed at the corner of her bedroom and she was standing before them, having just closed and locked them, with her arms crossed and a frown on her face.

"Done packing already?" Draco asked. She turned to him and nodded. He was holding a letter in his hand and he handed it to her once she finally tore herself away from her luggage.

"I should really send that woman a thank you note." Hermione said as she made her way over to her bed. She sat down at the edge of it and smiled at the letter. It was from Harry, the third she had gotten from him while she was staying with Draco. Ron had sent her letters as well, two of them, which were sitting in her handbag. "She did exactly what I asked if any letters were to come for me."

"Good thing too…" Draco laughed. "I'm sure Potter and Weasley would've sent a search party all over the world if the Australian Wizarding Hotel wrote back saying that you had checked out two weeks ago." He walked around to the other side of the bed and took the liberty to lie down on it. "What'd he say this time?"

"Nothing more than the usual," Hermione set the letter aside and turned to lie down as well. "Just that he and Ron miss me and can't wait until I come back… Oh, and that there's a new Auror working with us as well."

"And that last bit was worth mentioning? Merlin, they're awful pen pals."

Hermione playfully hit him in the arm and smiled. "They're not. I asked them to tell me if anything interesting was going on at the Ministry."

"Oh come on," Draco rolled his eyes and stared at her as he propped himself up on his elbow. "You're on _vacation_. You're not supposed to be thinking about work."

"…It's midnight, Malfoy." Hermione frowned and then sighed. "My vacation is over."

"…Don't remind me."

"I'll come to visit again. You do know that, don't you?"

"'Course I do. Doesn't make your leaving any easier, does it? It'll be harder but…once a month. I'll send you a portkey once a month. Come when you can. Deal..?"

Draco gave his hand for Hermione to shake. She looked down at it, stared at him, and then smiled.

"Deal,"

* * *

 **Author's note:** Draco, his wand, and Hermione's dress... Such a small chunk of a scene but I loved writing it so much.

To answer a guest's review from the 28th of July, I love your thinking! Not going to say if it's right or wrong, but I like where your head's at :D

Thanks for reading and the reviews everybody!

-WP


	4. Home Again and Unwanted Surprises

When Hermione woke up the next morning she felt miserable. She didn't want to go but knew that it was impossible to stay. Not just because she had a job, friends, and family waiting for her back in England, but also because her gracious host was a fugitive whom the Ministry was still actively searching for.

Sighing, she frowned when she found that Draco wasn't lying beside her. She sat up and looked towards the French doors that led to the balcony, their curtains gently pushed aside. The sun had yet to rise, but it would be coming soon. Or would it? Truth be told, Hermione couldn't really guess what hour it was due to the fact that it was quite cloudy.

 _A storm must be coming…_ She thought to herself, and then chuckled at it, thinking that it was the proper sendoff. As Hermione leaned over to her left to check the time of the clock on the night table, she was puzzled at the fact that it was no longer there. She then glanced to the far wall and saw that the clock on the wall was gone as well. It then dawned on her that Draco must've taken them, and she immediately grew a deeper appreciation of him.

"Can't risk me trying to guess where he is, now can he?" Hermione sang to herself. Time zones were annoying little things, but knowing how many hours ahead or behind England was from this place would eliminate _tons_ of places where this wonderful condo could be. And so, for now, she would be in the dark about time and began to dress.

When she was done Hermione gave one last fond look at the bedroom and quickly left it with her luggage levitating behind her. She travelled down the long corridor and admired the paintings on the walls, the floor, and the vases that stood on little podiums. She took in all of it, not sure if the next month when Draco sent that portkey she would be able to take it.

"Merlin, I hope I'll be able to take it." Hermione smiled and made it to the living room in order to set her luggage into the fireplace.

"Are you sure you don't want breakfast?" Draco asked. He had just entered the room, and Hermione turned to him and shook her head.

"I'm sure. Harry and Ron are meeting me at the Flooport. They'll want to take me out."

"Of course they would. They've been deprived of you for almost a full year."

"Yes," Hermione nodded and gave a soft chuckle. "Getting into trouble no doubt and not bothering to mention it to me." She sighed and frowned. "I should get going."

"Yeah," Draco nodded and drew closer to her. "Especially because I know what time it is and you don't and I can tell you that you're late. Until next month then, hopefully..?"

"Until next month,"

Draco pulled Hermione into a hug and they lingered so for several seconds, maybe even to a minute. When they pulled away Hermione could see sadness in Draco's eyes, but before she could pretend not to notice he looked away and forced himself to smile.

"Go on then." Draco said with his long-ditched menacing Malfoy voice. "Don't make me have to throw you out, Granger."

"I never get thrown out of _anywhere_ , Malfoy." Hermione took a handful of Floo Powder and stood inside of the fireplace. She gave him one last smile and waved goodbye.

Hermione threw down the Floo Powder quickly and soon found herself and her luggage tumbling out of a fireplace as large as the archway that led into Diagon Alley. She dragged her things away from the fireplace so as not to have a new arrival knock into her and then dusted the soot off of her clothes. She looked around and was surprised not to see many travelers at the Flooport. But then again, Sundays weren't incredibly busy travel days anyway.

"Alright, now where are you?" Hermione said to herself as she made her luggage to levitate behind her. Harry and Ron were supposed to be meeting her there and, finally catching sight of a clock, they were supposed to have been there for at least a half an hour already. She sighed and crossed her arms.

"Never on time… How hard is it? It's only apparation. It's not like they're coming by car and have to deal with traffic…"

"Do you always grumble angrily about us like this?"

Hermione smiled and turned around to see Ron grinning broadly and his arms open wide for a hug. She said nothing but threw herself onto him in a giant hug, almost knocking him over.

"How long were you watching me?" She asked as she let him go. Ron chuckled and took the liberty to shrink Hermione's luggage to the size of a pebble and stuff them into his pocket.

"For the past five minutes. Been here since noon when _you_ were supposed to be here. Now who's the one who should be whining about someone being on time?"

Hermione's cheeks reddened and she gave him her best puppy dog/angel face. Ron laughed and wrapped an arm around her as they made their way out of the Flooport. Apparently it wasn't wise to have apparation spots on the same location as a Flooport. "Too much magical transportation in one area is too much to monitor and control" so the Ministry says, and so Ron and Hermione slowly walked and made their way to the apparation spot that was some three blocks away.

As they were in no hurry, the snails seemed to be going at a faster rate than they were. Hermione asked where Harry was since she thought that he would be there to pick her up as well. Ron said that the Ministry was undergoing a small bit of a crisis.

"Head of the Auror Department has to oversee everything, naturally, so Harry had to go. But don't worry," Ron assured her. "On a scale from one to ten, it's a six, seven tops."

Hermione protested on that part, saying that a six or seven was pretty high, but there wasn't much of an argument. She had to stop her talking in order to apparate, but once they were walking away from the apparation spot that was a block from her house, she picked back up her fight. Ron began smiling and shaking his head, repeatedly saying not to worry about it. Hermione rolled her eyes, took out her house key and opened the door. With a flick of the lights she let out a gasp, fully understanding what "Ministry crisis" Harry had attended to.

"Welcome back, Hermione!" Harry, all of the Weasleys, and at least thirty of her coworkers shouted.

"Never go away for this long ever again." Harry said with a broad smile as he pulled Hermione into a hug. "Do you know how long eight months is?"

"Too long apparently," Hermione laughed as she was hugged and greeted by everyone in the room. "How did you even get in here? I _do_ have security on this place."

"Yeah, you might want to upgrade a bit." George chuckled as he passed her some congratulatory champagne. "Took the two of us about fifteen minutes to crack, right Fred?"

"Twelve," Fred corrected. "And considering the bloody fortress this place was, I'd say that's a personal best."

"Well, it's decided then, I'm getting a new magical security system and a muggle one as well." Hermione smiled and everyone close enough to hear laughed as more people greeted her, saying how happy they were to have her back.

The party lasted until about six or seven that evening. A magical cleanup was instituted and the house was spick and span within minutes. The Weasleys stayed around until about nine, and only Harry and Ron were left who, as the clock chimed midnight, were still there and taking up both ends of Hermione's sofa. Hermione on the other hand had reduced herself to sitting on the floor with her upper body leaning against a footrest.

"So, you're going with Australia then? That was your favorite stop?"

Hermione nodded. She yawned, stretched, and nodded once more. "Definitely… I absolutely adored the kangaroos."

Harry laughed. "A month in the place and all you're talking about are the kangaroos?"

"Oh, well I'm sorry I'm an animal lover. Next time I'll talk about the pubs and the nightlife. Will that make you happy?"

"Quite… Ron, wake up."

Harry gently kicked Ron in the leg and he snapped his eyes open. With a stretch he looked around with a bit of a confused look on his face before realizing that his two best friends were staring at him.

"Wha' did I miss?"

"Nothing," Hermione grinned and got up from the floor. "We should all get some sleep since we have to be at the Ministry in a few hours."

"Ready to go back..?" Harry asked. Hermione took a moment, shrugged, and crossed her arms.

"I just spent eight months, in eight different countries, only to come back to what initially drove me away. So no, not really,"

Harry frowned, but nodded because he understood. He gave Hermione a small, yet comforting hug before heading over to the fireplace with Ron so they could go their separate ways. "What happened with Thorn will never happen again. It's back to petty crimes and a stakeout or two. You're safe."

Hermione silently agreed and said goodnight to them as the Floo flames took them away. She sighed and stood in the middle of her living room. She looked all around her and suddenly felt a huge wave of anxiety. It felt as though she had never left. That the horrible experience with Thorn had just happened yesterday and she was heading into work tomorrow. That's what it felt like, and Hermione didn't like it. She wished she could take her luggage and go back out on the road. It was fun. Going to all those places, acting like a tourist, getting lost once or twice, and meeting people. But of course she knew what the best part of her sabbatical was and a deep sadness drew over her as Hermione turned off her living room lights.

She hated to admit it, but Hermione had been utterly blindsided. She had drifted into an implausible reality that times with Draco could happen again. That Draco was a simple rich man living luxuriously and had wanted her to come along for the ride. In essence that little tidbit was true. But the fact remained that no matter how much Hermione didn't, or refused rather, to think about it, Draco wasn't living free. He was a fugitive. The Ministry's _top_ fugitive.

When Thorn had been apprehended and the Ministry was reopened the next day, Hermione had had to make a statement. She had to give a record detail of what happened that Draco had managed to escape. Her lie was clear: "I was attending to Thorn and Malfoy saw it as the perfect opportunity to get away from me. I couldn't deal with two things at once and Thorn, at the time, served as priority."

With no other choice the Ministry had taken her word. And besides, who would've doubted it? Anyone would bet their life that Hermione would do all that she could to make sure that Draco was back in Azkaban. Not just for the fact that she was an Auror and it was her duty to uphold the law and protect citizens, but because she hated the little cretin and it would serve as a personal pleasure.

That same week Hermione had left for her sabbatical. Not just because she had wanted to forget everything that had happened to her as fast as possible, but because an investigation and the search for Draco had immediately begun. Aurors were constantly trying to talk to her and, yes, she answered their questions, but for the most part Hermione directed them to the statement that she had given and said no more. Now that it was eight months down the line she imagined that the whole Draco situation had died down significantly. There were other problems out there that required attention and as long as Draco wasn't disrupting wizarding society, he could be placed on the backburner. But even then, according to Harry and Ron there was still a subsection of the Ministry attending to Draco's case.

"And they want to speak with you." Ron had told her. Because of that Hermione was nervous. The first thing that she wanted to do when she walked through those Ministry doors was to make it straight to her office and read through her statement. It was a lie that she hadn't told for many months, and she wanted to make sure that she didn't dig herself even further into the hole she was already in.

* * *

In the morning Hermione slipped back into her routine as though it had never been disrupted. She got up at eight, showered, dressed, and skipped breakfast because she always Flooed over to either Harry's or Ron's to eat there. Once breakfast was eaten and the three of them squeezed themselves into the fireplace, they tumbled out of it and into the Ministry's grand lobby.

The first thing that Hermione noticed was that people truly didn't know how to look and act inconspicuously. She found that eyes were on her as she headed to the elevators with Harry and Ron. Some even stopped to give a small "welcome back" to which she nodded, gave a small smile, and a thank you. Harry lightened up the mood by saying that she was a dearly missed woman, to which Hermione laughed gently and playfully hit him in the arm.

"You know, you two never told me who the new Auror was that's coming to work with us." Hermione said as she led the way out of the elevator and onto the floor of the Auror Department. "You mentioned it in a letter, but neglected to tell me who. Harry? Ron?"

Hermione turned around to see that they had stopped following her due to being distracted by Tony Garza, an Auror who when talking to him only one subject passed his lips: Quiditch. She shook her head and continued her way to her office. Harry and Ron would find her as there was the only place that she would be heading to. On her way there though she was stopped by Maggie Morrison, Angela's sister, and someone who Hermione was obligated to say a few words to.

"Harry and Ron told me that you took a sabbatical too." Hermione was saying, and Maggie told her yes.

"A short one… I'm so glad that you were able to go to the funeral before you left for yours."

"I wouldn't have missed it. Angela was my friend."

"She'll never be forgotten." A new voice to the conversation was heard. But however new, it wasn't entirely new to Hermione. In fact it puzzled her. It furthermore shocked her when she turned to it and stared into the face from where it had come from.

"Christian?" Hermione said in surprise. He was smiling and nodding to Harry and Ron as a greeting once they had just caught up to her.

"You two know each other?" Ron asked. _Yes_ , they knew each other, but Hermione couldn't and wouldn't dare say that. By doing so she'd have to say when and where and how they had met, of which was the biggest no for an option. As Christian opened his mouth to speak, her heart stopped, but he said something completely irrelevant from the truth.

"She probably saw my face in the Daily Prophet or something." Christian replied and smiled even broader. He brought his hand out to her and Hermione placed a frail and pale hand in his and gave it a quick shake. "I'm Christian Matthews. Nice to meet you."

"…Nice to meet you too." Hermione responded in a delayed response, trying to keep her confusion as minimal as possible.

"He's the one we wrote to you about. Christian here is lending his Auror services from the Ministry of Magic in Australia."

"You're an Auror?"

"The best," Harry said in her ear, but Hermione was far from listening. She was still stuck on the fact that Christian was an Auror. An Auror in the very country she was in when Draco Owled her. An Auror who was at a party to which Draco had been invited to. An Auror who had taken her out to lunch. And an Auror who was now standing in front of her face making a clear and obvious lie to Harry and Ron that they had never met before.

"What are you doing here?" Hermione asked in an accusatory tone, but Ron answered her, not paying much attention to the anger in her voice.

"He's well-known for catching wanted fugitives hiding in plain sight."

"That's right." Christian said with a triumphant grin. "Caught about eleven in my career… A long and tedious bit of work, but it's worth it."

"That doesn't explain why you're here."

"Well, I've got my eye on someone who I think will make my count go from eleven to twelve."

"And I can't wait to see Malfoy back in Azkaban." Hermione heard Ron comment, and her chest seemed to sink in.

"Actually it's Vaughn, now. But either way, you're right Ron." Christian was staring at Hermione now and gave a nonchalant shrug of his shoulders. "He'll be back in Azkaban before you know it."

* * *

 **Author's note:** Well, so much for Draco being safe! And shout-outs to those of you who questioned whether Christian was the new Auror or not. But you have to wonder about him though. Why would he lie? Just putting some thoughts into your heads :)


	5. Subtle Interrogations

Hermione rudely dismissed herself and went to her office. It was near the end of the hall and she quickly let herself inside, stupidly leaving the door open and stripping herself of her jacket and dropping it onto the chaise longue that was near the door. She placed her head in her hands, softly groaned into them and then blankly stared.

 _An Auror… He's an Auror…_

It made sense. All of those questions he had asked in reference to Draco. Anyone would be interested in the mysterious _Darius Vaughn_ that was obviously rich and belonged to the elite society that had so graciously accepted him. But the level of interest that Christian had shown was beyond all of that. He had been _too_ interested, and sure it had bothered Hermione some, but she ruled it out entirely. It couldn't have been _possible_ that he was an Auror. It was too farfetched and a downright consequence of paranoia to think so.

But in this instance paranoia had won. And now Hermione was pacing in her office with a hand over her mouth in utter surprise, fury, anxiousness, and a round of other emotions that she couldn't quite place. She sighed and went over to her desk. She dug for a bottle of water that was inside of a mini refrigerated cabinet and constantly replenished by house elves and drank at least half of it before there was a subtle knock on her opened door.

"May I?

Hermione looked up to the door and scowled. She set down her water and turned her gaze to her desk. She began fishing for the statement that she had made those several months ago so that she could go over it. Everything else she would ignore (or at least try to) but unfortunately it wasn't working.

"So, you're not going to talk to me now?" Christian asked as he leaned on the doorframe of Hermione's office. She still wasn't looking up at him, but heard the door close. She was hoping that he had just left, but knew that it wasn't going to be that easy. "And here I was thinking that we had gotten along so well at lunch…"

"That was before I knew you were an Auror and just scoping me out. Trying to get information out of me that I don't have to give you," Hermione snapped at him. She found her statement and set it on her desk. After drinking some more of her water, she sighed, brushing some hair out of her eyes. "It was clever though, truly."

"Come on, Hermione." He smiled as he walked up to her desk. "You can't honestly say that you're upset with me."

"Upset? No. Offended? Highly… Why couldn't you just come out and say that you were an Auror and investigating Darius?"

"Well, for starters, it wouldn't have made me much of a good Auror." Christian chuckled. "Would you have done it? As brilliant as you are, I know that you wouldn't have. You would've beaten around the bush like I did. And you would've utterly and _completely_ led me on like I did." He sighed and stuffed his hands casually in his pockets. "Especially if you thought that the person you were talking to were in on things."

Hermione wanted to cast her eyes down at her desk, but to avoid looking as guilty as she felt she stared into his. Taking a deep breath, she cupped her hands on her desk and defended the hell out of herself.

"You think that I know that Darius Vaughn is Draco Malfoy."

"That's right."

"Well, if it's true then that'll be quite the surprise for me." She said bravely. Christian nodded to that and took his hands out of his pockets.

"Look, Hermione I like you, and when I take him down-"

" _If_ you take him down,"

"If… I don't want to have to bring you in too. I _will_ crack this."

"There's nothing to crack." Hermione said confidently. "And besides, if Darius is really Draco…" Here she felt her stomach turn into knots. She was about to tell the biggest lie of her life and she felt like a complete hypocrite, but she pushed those feelings aside and said boldly, "I would turn him in."

"Okay then," Christian said out of mild defeat, or more than likely, accepting the fact that she wouldn't make things easy for him. He headed towards her door, but Hermione called him back to discuss one last thing.

"Why did you make it look like this was the first time you and I were meeting each other?"

"Because then you'd have to explain to Harry and Ron who Darius is. That'd be a tough one for you, I'm sure." Christian shrugged and scratched the back of his head. "Consider it the one of the few times I was able to help you."

* * *

… _I looked up and Draco Malfoy was gone. The last I saw of him was his shadow turning the corner down the hall. Thorn was already apprehended and I was about to go after him when I saw the glow of Floo Flames. Draco Malfoy was gone. To go after him then would mean to leave Thorn unattended at the risk of being five steps behind in pursuit._

"Hermione..?"

Hermione looked up to see her office door slightly ajar and Ron halfway inside. "You're needed in Conference Room 8."

Hermione, who had just finished reading her statement for the fifth time, nodded. She took a deep and unnoticeable breath and got up from her seat so that she could follow Ron out. They both boarded the elevator and felt it rise. Something happened that surprised her though, and it was that Ron wasn't getting off on the same floor as she thought he would. She turned a confused look towards him as the elevator stopped on floor eight and he got off. Ron gave her an apologetic smile because he knew very well that Hermione was disappointed and had fully expected him to be going to the meeting as well.

When the elevator hit floor eleven Hermione walked out of it with pride and buried her guilt. She headed into Conference Room 8 and saw that the large round table was full of people, none of them being Harry. She frowned and then glanced up at Christian who was standing at the front.

"Ah, there you are Hermione." Christian smiled. "Sit here, if you don't mind."

Hermione gave a compliant smile and sat down to where he had gestured: a chair next to his. Once she was seated, Christian took his as well and greeted everyone who was there.

"You all have a copy of the statement that Miss Granger here wrote after her…" Christian hesitated and gave a soft cough. " _Ordeal_ … Everyone involved in Matthew Thorn's conspiracy, including Matthew Thorn himself, has been accounted for as either dead, in Azkaban, or in the holding cells within the Ministry awaiting prosecution. All except for Draco Malfoy who managed to escape and is still out there.

'We've gone through your statement several times and there are only so many things you're required to include as an Auror." Christian addressed Hermione. "We need to know what, if there's anything, is not included."

Hermione stared at the faces in the room. Everyone seemed to be burning with a question to ask, including Christian. With an inward sigh she nodded and cupped her hands on the table. "What are your questions then?"

"While in Hawaii with Malfoy, did he say anything about what he would do if he escaped?" One of the Aurors asked. Hermione had to control herself for if she hadn't, she would've let out an unladylike snort and laughed. Was he for real? Instead, Hermione politely shook her head.

"We were running around in impossible heat, captured, and forced to attempt to kill each other. The last thing either one of us was thinking about, much less _talking_ about, was our future plans."

"But the two of you were on your way to the Watch Tower to try and find a way out, weren't you?" Another Auror imputed. "Some sort of discussion about what would happen afterwards would've had to happen."

"But it _didn't_." Hermione emphasized. She was getting annoyed already. "And to correct you, our goal wasn't to get off the island. It was to get those bracelets off. After that, I don't know what would've happened then."

"Good thing Harry came to the rescue then." Christian said in a small joke that caused the whole table, except for Hermione, to erupt in bouts of laughter. After it died down, he asked a question of his own. "What I don't understand, and what seems to have been baffling this team of Aurors before I got here, is why after Harry and several Aurors came to your rescue, did they rescue you _and_ Malfoy? Why bring him along to save the Ministry instead of to Azkaban where he belonged?"

Hermione cocked a brow. Her gaze passed over everyone and her confusion lingered as she posed her question directly to them instead of Christian. "If this has been bothering you for months while I was away, why didn't you just ask Harry then? He was there."

"We're asking _you_ , not him." Christian answered her. Hermione turned to him and frowned.

"Harry was arresting him. I stopped it and said that we needed him."

"Why?"

"Because we did…The Ministry was in chaos. And the fact that it still stands makes me not regret my decision."

Christian smiled. He gave a soft chuckle and nodded. "Fair enough then… Anymore questions for Miss Granger?"

* * *

Hermione was more than happy when the meeting was over. Being there made her feel like she was reliving that entire experience in that rainforest all over again. And furthermore, she didn't feel like she was contributing anything by being there. Sure, she was giving answers to questions that the other Aurors asked, but it wasn't in a cooperative fashion in the slightest. To tell the truth, it felt like an interrogation.

 _At least I won't have to do that again…_ She thought contentedly. Hermione had given them loads of information; none of it requiring a lie. They would use what she said in order to better try and find Draco, though she had to admit it was quite the lost cause. Nothing she had said pointed to any direction of where Draco could be. It was rather pointless really.

"I honestly don't know how they plan on finding him." Hermione said to Harry who at the moment was standing in her kitchen and rummaging through her cupboards.

"Neither do I. It took four bloody years for me to catch him, and he wasn't even in hiding. Where's your paprika, 'Mione?"

"Three bottles over from your right hand."

Harry finally found it and sprinkled a bit into the pot he was hovering over. Hermione sat at her kitchen counter in silence watching him do it. He had been at her house for the past hour now and Ron would be on his way soon. Since he had arrived, and well before then, Hermione had been occupied with the meeting she had sat in on. And if she didn't get out what was on her mind soon, it would drive her insane.

"Harry, can I ask you something?"

"Sure, what is it?"

"With the case about Malfoy…why is Christian heading it and not you?" Hermione asked plainly. Harry looked away from the stove for a moment and then turned back. She sighed. "You were the one who caught him first after all. _And_ you're the Head of the Auror Department. It'd just make sense if it was you."

"I have other responsibilities that take precedence, 'Mione. And besides that that was four years ago and an entirely different case." Harry answered her, and she immediately rolled her eyes as she was expecting this sort of answer, but he continued. "We needed fresh blood on this."

"Okay then, fine. But why weren't you or Ron in the conference room at the very least?"

Hermione watched as Harry's shoulders slumped forward slightly. He turned off the stove and faced her fully, his face showing emotions that she was sure that he was hoping to hide. He forced a smile afterwards to blot them out.

"Listen Hermione, everyone knows how close we are. The Ministry thought it best that neither Ron nor I should be there. They said that there'd be a chance that we'd be too lenient on you. You know, not pry as hard as if you were someone else."

"Pry as hard?" Hermione repeated. Harry nodded slowly and he stared into his best friend's eyes which grew wide at a sudden thought dawning her. "Harry, the Ministry doesn't think that I let Malfoy _go_ , do they?"

Harry frowned. He brought his attention back to the stove and began to finish what he had started. With a small clearing of his throat and a shrug, he gave a chuckle to lighten the mood. "It's silly, 'Mione. You know that."

"Answer me, Harry. Do they?"

"…They're not ruling it out."

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Well, it's not just Draco that's in hot water! Christian seems decent enough, albeit in his own devious ways. As always, thanks for your comments and story theories. Keep 'em coming!

Have a good week :D

-WP


	6. Hesitation

The first month back at the Ministry was a torturous one. To find out from Harry that there was suspected foul play on Hermione's part was unbearable. The best thing she thought to do, and had been doing, was to act as innocent as possible. If questions were posed to her, she answered hem. She showed remorse at Draco's escape and proved supportive that the Ministry would get him back. Most important of all, she avoided Christian at all costs.

Hermione's tactics worked well with others, and in a way, Christian too. But he didn't just take it and go on about his day. He would nod and then smile at her; his eyes twinkling and giving off the impression that he knew something that no one else knew. In fact he did. No one knew that Hermione was on Darius Vaughn's arm the month before. And that sort of association, knowing the situation, was quite important.

Because of that, Hermione sat on her bed late one night staring a keychain that had arrived by a black and white owl. She was careful not to touch it and just laid it on her bed, her hands cupped about her face in a childlike manner. She was pouting too.

"I can't come see you." Hermione said to the keychain. Draco had been smart (as if there was a time where he wasn't). The owl arrived Thursday night and the keychain would remain active until late Friday night. This allowed plenty of time for her to figure out if she'd be able to get away, and it was on a weekend so that it wouldn't interrupt with work.

But with Christian hounding her Hermione thought it best that she didn't go. Sighing, she did as Draco advised in the four-worded phrase in the letter that accompanied the keychain. _If no, burn it._ At three in the morning she watched with dissatisfaction as the keychain burned up into nothing with a blue afterglow. After that she went to sleep with tosses and turns, waking up to the sound of her alarm five hours later. Hermione yawned, stretched, did her morning routine as usual, and ate breakfast with Harry and Ron.

They had noted her considerable grumpy disposition, but Hermione put on a big smile for them and simply said that she had had a nightmare or two and didn't sleep very well. When they had asked what she had dreamed about, she said "that thing," and managed to milk every bit of sympathy she could from her friends. She felt awful for doing it, but quite unlike herself, enjoyed the attention and held it until they had made it to the Ministry and went their separate ways to their appropriate offices.

Hermione worked hard that morning. She, Harry, and Ron were planning a stakeout sometime within the next month and she was taking time now to read over the profiles of who they'd be watching. It was a bit early to be doing so, but she had enough time on her hands. Her superiors, namely Harry, had been good to her and thought it best not to load her with assignments right after getting back. The stakeout would be her first, and Hermione was hoping to prove that she hadn't come out of the ordeal with Thorn "damaged" and that she was fine.

As she was going through the last profile, there was a knock on Hermione's door. She had been expecting it and without looking up from her desk told the person behind it to come in.

"Working hard?"

Hermione let the profile that was in her hands drop as she rolled her eyes. She had been expecting Harry and Ron, _not_ Christian, and didn't even bother to hide her disgruntled attitude. "Yes, I am. And I'd like to be left alone to finish it as well."

"But it's pass noon, almost one… I'd reckon you'd be starving by now."

Christian was smiling. Hermione was not. She huffed and set aside the profile she had been reading back into the folder that she had taken it from. "I'm having lunch with Harry and Ron as I always do. Thank you, but-"

"They're busy." Christian interrupted. He took a few steps closer to Hermione's desk, admired a painting that hung over her chaise longue, and stopped a few feet from her. "There was some movement in one of the places they had surveillance on. They told me to tell you that they couldn't make lunch."

"Oh really..?" Hermione sighed and fished out her handbag that she kept in one of her spacious drawers. "And you just decided to come to the rescue then, did you?"

Christian shrugged and placed his hands at the rim of his pants pockets. "Call it whatever you what. I'm hungry, you must be too, and I'm paying." Small dimples appeared in his cheeks as his smile turned into a bashful-looking one. "Come on, I'll get your coat."

Knowing that he wouldn't leave her alone and being half-dead from hunger, Hermione picked herself up and took her coat from Christian's arms. They walked in silence to the elevator and, not to the Floos, but outside and into muggle London. Where they went was a small café three or so blocks away from the Ministry. As it was a comfortable spring afternoon, they sat at a table outside, and Hermione was having a difficult time avoiding Christian's eyes which never seemed to leave her.

"You're thinking about something." He announced. Hermione stared at him for a moment and picked up a menu. She perused it for a moment before setting it down and answering him.

"When am I ever _not_ thinking about something?"

"Touché,"

Silence drifted over them until a waitress came and took their orders. After she left, Hermione decided to get the tension out of the air by, oddly, adding more tension. "Why do you think Malfoy is Darius in disguise?"

Christian cocked a brow at her, obviously surprised by her sudden question. He crossed his arms and gently leaned back in his chair and took a breath. "Malfoy disappears, Darius shows up. It's as simple as that."

"Is it?"

"Definitely…" Christian smirked and positioned his chair right. "It happens like this all the time. They think a month or two is fine to fall off the map, and then they come back. But they don't come back quietly, no. They're rich, living in glamour, and loving life."

"And _that's_ what's fueling you?" Hermione asked astonished. She then laughed and thanked the waitress who set their beverages on the table. "That's non-substantial evidence, Christian."

"It's not evidence at all." He countered and sipped his tea. "It's a hunch, and my hunches have gotten me to where I am today."

"Full of yourself there, aren't you?"

"Yes,"

Hermione ignored his confession. She drank her tea within minutes; just in time for Christian's to ask a question of his own.

"How did you meet Darius, Hermione?"

"You already asked me that remember? That day at lunch when you completely led me on? I answered you then."

"True, you did. _But_ , what if I were to tell you something interesting that made me doubt you?"

Hermione stared at him amused. She nodded, egging him on, and Christian drained off the rest of his tea before continuing. "What if I said that Harry and Ron told me that you were on sabbatical? And that Darius very stupidly told me that he was inviting a lady friend to Vernon and Irene's party _before_ your alleged Italy trip, and that I thought it fascinating that you were the one he invited?"

"You weren't just a guest at the party, were you? …You're friends with Darius?"

Christian leaned forward in his chair. Hermione leaned back in hers to keep the space between them large, and he grinned. "He thinks so."

"As an Auror I congratulate you. As Darius' friend I despise you."

"Thank you and I'm hurt."

The waitress came back with their food and refilled their teacups. Silence ensued again as they began to eat, but Hermione broke it with the last thing that was bothering her.

"You're trusting me a lot, you know. I could very well tell Darius who you are and what you're doing." She lied.

Christian pursed his lips and nodded. "You could. But you won't."

"How do you know?"

"Because like how I trust you, you trust me by thinking that I won't tell Harry and Ron that I saw you with Darius. I'm also putting a stop to newspapers from publishing photos of you from that night. I've helped you quite a bit, so I'd consider that more than an equal trade, don't you think?"

* * *

Christian thought he was so smart. As Hermione made it back to her office after their lunch, she hated for herself for thinking that he was. She could very well do what she told him: tell Draco who Christian really was and to watch his steps. But how would she? Sighing, she sat at her desk and pulled out the files that she had been reading earlier for the pending stakeout. Her concentration wavered however. Her eyes poured over the words on the pages but none of them registered in her brain. Hermione decided to put it away and place her head in her hands.

Draco thought that he and Christian were friends. He didn't know that he was being watched and now that Hermione knew she wanted to tell him desperately. But once again the question of how she would do that came back. Sending an owl with a letter addressed to "Draco Malfoy" wouldn't have made sense because having begun eight months ago, he didn't exist. His new alias must be registered with the Owlery System by now, but maybe not. Hermione didn't want to risk it and then have an owl flying about with pertinent and dangerous information just to be found by the wrong person.

"I don't even know where he lives." Hermione groaned in her hands. She had both hands in her hair now; positioned there partly out of comfort and partly because her fingers had become caught in the humidity-induced frizz. And as she sat there at her desk in distress she was beginning to think that this was fate's plan B. Hermione had been plan A, and because she had failed and let Draco go free Christian was the new plan. He was going to do what she should've done, and because he "liked" her as he's said on many occasions, he would probably take Draco down without getting her involved in the slightest. No one would know that she had let him go free, nor would they know that she had visited him and spent two full weeks of comfortable and hospitable nights in his condo that made her feel quite at home.

"Hey, you alright..?"

Hermione looked up from her desk and saw Harry closing her office door behind him. Of all people she didn't want him to see her like this –in distress. But she shook it off and smiled at him, saying that she was fine.

"Just feeling a little tired is all."

"Then I guess you'll be saying no to what I'm about to ask, but I'll take a shot anyway. Feel up for making an arrest with Ron and me?"

Hermione's face lit up and she grinned. "Absolutely… I'll do just about anything to get out of this office."

"Good," Harry nodded as he kicked in a laugh. "Come on, we're leaving in a few."

 _This is just what I needed… Something to get my mind off of things…_ Hermione was ecstatic. Now, people said this about her a lot, Harry and Ron too, but it was true. She loved making an arrest. It wasn't for the superficial, must-be-memorized statement that she was doing a duty for her country and the magical community. There was just something of a _thrill_ when blasting a door apart and catching a criminal. Call her strange if you must, but Harry and Ron understood, and all three of them wore complacent faces as they apparated to the designated apparation spot and stealthily made over to where the arrest was going to be made.

"This is the same guy you've been writing to me about, right?"

"Yeah, Geoffrey Günter," Harry nodded. Ron snickered at the man's name, repeating his last as he rolled his eyes. Hermione on the other hand was, oddly enough, reflecting on it.

 _Günter… Why do I feel like I know that name?_

"Ready?" Ron asked the two of them. Harry and Hermione nodded and the plan was laid out for the second time. Günter kept an anti-apparation spell on his place 24/7 and went in and out via the Floo. He also kept spells on all his doors and windows to keep them locked, the windows starting at noon, and the doors at six-thirty. He paid someone to deliver a muggle newspaper to him every day roughly around six in the evening. Obviously the use of the front door would be necessary and that would be when Ron, under a Chameleon Charm, would slip himself inside.

"Here we go."

Harry nodded his head to the front door as he saw the guy who usually brought Günter's paper to his door. As the door opened, he and Hermione looked over to where Ron was to find that he was gone. The plan was in motion, and the only way to know for sure that Ron had made it into the house was if the door remained opened as Harry and Hermione tried to make their way inside as well. Once the newspaper carrier was gone, a few minutes elapsed before they stealthily made it towards the door.

"Part one, done." Harry whispered as he saw that the door was open and not affected by Günter's spell. He and Hermione slipped themselves inside, listening to the noises from upstairs signaling that Günter had kept up with his routine and went upstairs to his bedroom to read his paper.

"Ron," Hermione called in a whisper. As part of the plan he would remain camouflaged if, or _when_ , Günter ran. Ron made his presence known by gently lifting a lamp from off a small table. Hermione nodded to him and then turned to Harry. "Okay then, we're off."

Hermione followed Harry up the stairs, careful to skip the three stairs that made creaking noises. Günter's bedroom was the third door on the right. Harry had planned to blast his door apart, catching their arrestee by surprise. But he and Hermione were in for a surprise of their own because the bedroom door that was usually shut was wide open. To top it all off, the bedroom was void of a person.

"Where is he?"

"Harry, look out!"

Günter had come out from a room near the end of the hall and caused a vase to move its place on a table and crash into the back of Harry's neck. He wasted no time in pushing pass a disoriented Harry and tried to disarm Hermione who was blocking his way down the stairs. He failed however, just as she failed to stun him as he ran towards her. Günter was quite the fast man. He knocked Hermione into the wall and hurled down the stairs, but not making it to the landing. Hermione's fighter spirit kicked in overdrive and she shot a spell at him before he could take his final steps. Tumbling, Günter hit the floor with an awful thud, making Hermione to believe that the fall had knocked him out. It hadn't however, and just as she was about to materialize restraints on him, Günter rolled over onto his side, and she stopped.

Hermione now knew why his name was so familiar. He had been at one of the parties Draco had taken her to. No, she had never met him face to face, but if she had clearly seen him from across a room, then that meant that it was possible that he had done the same.

Without her noticing, restraints had appeared on Günter. Hermione looked up from him to see Ron, clearly not camouflaged anymore, with his wand out and staring at her curiously.

"Why did you hesitate?" He asked her. Hermione paused in her answer. Instead of explaining, she just apologized, asked if Günter was secure enough, and then went to see if Harry was okay.

* * *

 **Author's note:** In Christian's subtle way, he's blackmailing her. Anybody like him? And as for Hermione, she...well she could potentially be in quite a bit of trouble.

Thanks for all the support, guest readers and reviewers included!

-WP :)


	7. Helping Hands and Weekend Trips

After taking Günter in, Hermione was on edge. Harry hadn't seen her slow pace of action, but Ron had been front and center. He kept giving her odd looks on their way to the Ministry's holding cells, on the elevator ride, and on the walk to their respective offices. It only took sitting five minutes in hers to realize that she couldn't leave this alone. Hermione worked up the nerve to leave and head to Ron's office. She had to wait a few minutes because he was meeting with someone from another Department, but once it was over Hermione slipped herself inside and Ron gave her a soft smile.

"Today's one of the days that you love me, I take it." Ron grinned and Hermione laughed as she nodded. They had this little understanding between them after one day she had joked that there were days that she loved him and days that he annoyed the hell out of her. He'd only be able to tell the difference with the amount of times she came into his office during a work day.

"I came to explain." Hermione said softly, and Ron's joyous face faded as he knew what she had come to talk about.

Ron shook his head and walked out from behind his desk. "You don't have to explain anything to me, 'Mione, you know that."

"I know I don't _have_ to, but I want to. I don't want you thinking that I'm not ready to be back."

"As long as you know that you're ready to be back, it doesn't matter what I think. It doesn't matter what _anyone_ thinks."

Hermione shrugged. "Yes, I guess so. But I just-"

"And if you want to prove it like I'm sure you do," Ron interrupted. "You can take my place."

"Your place..? Take your place for what?"

"Interrogation… Günter's going to be interrogated in about a half an hour. Harry's got other business to attend to and I was going to do it. But I suppose you wouldn't mind jumping at it?"

Actually Hermione _did_ mind. She wanted to avoid all chances of Günter recognizing her and not interrogating him would be best. But how could she tell Ron no? Having him see her hesitate once was bad enough, and though this situation wasn't directly related to Draco, it easily could be.

"Sure," Hermione nodded. She left Ron's office shortly after that, and instead of waiting in her own she decided to take it slow to the interrogation rooms. On the journey down there her thoughts were running ragged. Surveillance on Günter had started soon after Hermione had gone on her sabbatical, but Ron had given her a list of questions that they had had the intention of asking. There were about fifteen questions on that list, some of which would cancel themselves out depending upon how Günter answered previous questions.

As Hermione hit the interrogation floor and to the room where Günter would soon be placed, she was surprised to see Christian there, sitting where she should've been.

"I'm tired of seeing you." Hermione scowled. Christian merely smiled and crossed his arms about his chest.

"I'm not here to be a nuisance to you, Hermione."

"And yet you are… What are you doing here? Do I have the wrong interrogation room or something?"

Christian flipped through some papers he had in front of him before answering. "Geoffrey Günter, interrogation room six. You must be interrogating someone else."

Hermione shook her head definitively. "No, I'm not. Harry, Ron, and I arrested him today. Either one of the three us should be here, not you."

"And out of the three of you I would've expected it to be Harry or Ron." Christian shrugged his shoulders and gave a light huff. "But aside from that, I'm not here to ask the same questions you are. I have my own."

Hermione watched him as he motioned to his papers. She redirected her eyes to him and puffed up her chest. "Questions in relation to what?"

The left corner of Christian's mouth curled up into a delicate smirk. He seemed to love when Hermione grew suspicious of his actions. "I think you know in relation to what. And if you're wise, as I have no doubt that you are, you'll hand over your questions and allow me to conduct both parts of the interrogation."

Christian was gently leaning over the table with his hand stretched out towards her. Hermione took a step back, holding her files and interrogation questions close to her as though they were a dear treasure. He took notice of her protective measures and gave a low chuckle.

"Between the two of us, if either one of us are to be wary of the other it should be me of you, not the other way around." Christian withdrew his outstretched hand and interlocked it with his other. His face, at first calm, amused, and semi-serious, had grown stern all over. He took a deep sigh and shook his head. "Günter will recognize you if you question him. You know that. Be smart. Hand the questions over."

Hermione looked down at what she had in her hand and couldn't find a way out. She knew that Christian was right and dreadfully _hated_ having to agree with him. She gritted her teeth and moved forward. She slowly handed the papers over to him, but pulled them out of his reach before saying one last thing.

"Only if I get to watch in the next room."

Christian produced a full blown smile, all seriousness fleeing as quickly as it had come. "Always making negotiations… You never give unless you can take, can you?"

"It's called being fair." Hermione huffed. "The way you say it makes me sound like a scoundrel. Are we in agreement or not?"

"As you wish,"

Hermione gave Christian her files and interrogation questions and left without another word. She slammed the door after herself and immediately went into the adjacent room where she could watch the interrogation through a one-way mirror and listen in. As Hermione thought he would have, Christian started off with her questions first. They were routine and unsurprising. To be honest, she mentally tuned out when he was asking them and took more of an interest in her right thumb which she thought looked bigger than her left. When the first part of the interrogation was over however, Hermione began paying attention.

Christian's first question was hard and direct: "How do you know Darius Vaughn?" Günter's response was that he knew him through Irene Robeson and her husband. The next question: "How many times have you met him?" was answered with the number five and accompanied Christian's follow up questions of where did they meet and what they talked about. At each question Hermione felt weak. She kept thinking that one of them would give Draco away or give some sort of crack in the wall for Christian to slide through. It was avoided though, and she was finally able to breathe once Günter was taken away to be brought back to the holding cells.

Some seconds later Christian left the interrogation room and joined her. He smiled contentedly and gazed into the room he had just left.

"Happy you weren't in there now?" He asked her. Hermione nodded. Yes, she was happy, but she was also dumbfounded, and turned to him with a question that was desperately burning within her.

"Why are you helping me?"

Christian cocked a brow. "Admitting that you need help, are we?"

"Not with what you're thinking. I just want to know why you're trying so hard to make sure that no one knows about my connection to Darius. It doesn't make a bit of sense."

Hermione watched as Christian leaned up against the wall. He stuffed his hands in his pockets, rested his head back, and closed his eyes.

"'I'm free now. Free from a situation that was trying to kill me, and a situation that brought back everything that I thought had stopped: the newspapers, reporters, everything. I only hope that this small interview is the last trail of it.'"

Christian snapped his eyes open to find Hermione staring confusedly at him. He let out a sigh and properly stood. "You said it. It was from some interview, a question really, asked by a supposedly off-duty reporter while you were on your sabbatical. You're in deep, Hermione, though you want me to believe otherwise. And for someone who doesn't want to be in the limelight again, you're certainly on the pathway for that with hanging around Draco bloody Malfoy all the time."

"He is _not_ Darius and I was only with him once-!"

" _Whatever!_ The point _is_ … I just want to help." Christian sighed. "And _just in case_ you're telling the truth, and you truly don't know who Darius really is, when I catch him it's better that the public doesn't think that you did."

Hermione was numb. She suddenly regretted all the horrible things she had called him in her mind, but then took it all back when she realized that he was trying to capture Draco. And yet as she gazed at Christian and took in what room they were in, in what building, and what their jobs were, could she really blame him for doing what he was trained to do?

"…Thank you."

"No problem." Christian began to lead the way out of the room, but stopped before reaching the door. "And by the way, just because the public doesn't have evidence of your actions, doesn't mean that I don't. I've got to be prepared in case I have to take you in, don't I?"

Hermione stared at him with a reddening face from anger as he turned and continued heading for the door. Once he was gone, she had made a decision to hate him all over again.

* * *

Hermione's next act as an Auror left her feeling proud of herself. One, because there was no hesitation involved, and two, because the person she and Ron had gone to arrest she didn't know. Yes those two circumstances fed each other, but it excited her nonetheless. What topped it all off was that she finished off the arrest all by herself. Of course Hermione gave credit to where credit was due and was rather impressed with Ron at how he handled three attackers at once that allowed Hermione to get away and go after who they had gone there for. Afterwards she had joked about who would think that Ronald Weasley of all people would be such the fighter.

"And who'd think Hermione Granger would be such the _aggressive_ fighter?" Ron had replied back. He had fended his attackers off well enough to see Hermione in action. Spells being tossed left and right, dodging and blocking, debris being flown everywhere until in the end the arrestee was being bound and gagged more tightly than necessary.

As their boss, Harry congratulated Ron and Hermione on a job well done with his "I'm on the job" face. When he clocked out and stopped being their superior, he was more than smiles and thought it would be a good idea to celebrate that weekend.

"Let's pack tonight and bring our things with us to work tomorrow." Harry suggested. "That way as soon as our shifts are over we can get out of here."

Hermione nodded as she broke off a piece of Ron's cake and popped it into her mouth. They were at Ron's place and had decided to dive right into eating desert before a later dinner. "And where are we going, may I ask?"

"Not telling you," Ron chuckled as pulled his cake a little closer to him as she nicked another piece. "You'll only protest if we do."

"Oh no, I'm going to hate it aren't I? Is it somewhere cold? It's somewhere cold, isn't it?"

"Look at it this way, 'Mione. You'll learn to ski."

* * *

Though Hermione hated the snow, she figured that if she'd be learning something new, it would be a good trip. Besides, she'd be with her best friends, so why wouldn't she enjoy herself?

"Because they'll take it upon themselves to throw snowballs at me." Hermione mumbled, smiled, and then shook her head at the idea. She had left their company about an hour and a half ago and immediately went into her room to pack. It wouldn't have taken long or anything since she wasn't particularly big on fashion so that she'd be stuck in front of a mirror trying to decide if a certain shirt made her look "pudgy." It took about twenty minutes to put a few outfits together, shoes included, and all of her toiletries. All she needed now was her winter gear.

"Great," Hermione frowned, realizing that June was hardly winter weather and that she had packed away all of those things long ago. But instead of digging through her closets, she was going to take the easy way out. With her wand in hand she began moving around things in her closet until she was able to see the bag labeled "hats, gloves, scarves, and tights." Though, before she was able to take it down there was a tap on her window.

Hermione looked and smiled. She set her wand aside and let in the owl that was hovering patiently. The letter it was carrying was dropped onto her bed and the bird flew out. She remarked at how the owl was different to the one that had been sent before.

 _How many owls does Draco have?_ Hermione pondered and opened the letter with careful gestures so as not to touch the portkey. As she stared at it she realized how stuck she was. She had been packing to go away with Harry and Ron this weekend, and here was Draco, sending her a portkey, and asking her to steal away some time for him.

Though however torn Hermione felt, her decision was clear. Harry and Ron, she could see them at any time. But Draco, how often could she see him? This was her chance and she figured that she'd might as well take it; especially with Christian being so willing to conceal her sneaky ways….

And so Hermione changed the clothes that she had packed. She switched all the sweaters, winter shoes, hats, and gloves for tanks, lighter shirts, flip flops and sandals, a swimsuit, and a pair of sunglasses. Now all that was left was telling Harry and Ron that she wouldn't be able to join them on their planned weekend getaway. They'd want an explanation, naturally, and here is where Hermione found it difficult. How would she lie to them?

She decided that she wouldn't and instead just came right out with it as they were having lunch together at work the next day. "I got an invitation to visit a friend this weekend."

Harry and Ron looked up from their meals anticipating the rest of Hermione's statement and she sighed as she continued. "I _really_ don't want to run out on you guys, but my friend's quite busy and I need to visit when I can."

"…Well, we can't stop you." Harry said with a bit of disappointment in his voice. "Have fun then."

"Oh, Harry, you hate me."

"No, we just don't like you much at the moment." Ron grinned, which took some of the tension out of the air. "So, who're you blowing us off for?"

Hermione was waiting for this question. She took a deep breath and sipped her tea before speaking again. "Just a friend,"

The way she had said "just a friend" made Harry and Ron stare at her curiously, turn to each other, and then smile quite maliciously. Hermione didn't like it and chose to redirect her eyes at her food as she ate it.

"Does this _friend_ happen to be a man?" Ron questioned her, and Hermione blushed terribly. The redder her face got, the bigger his grin was until there was no more room on his face to hold it. " _It is, isn't it?_ "

"Ron,-"

"No need to explain anything to us." Harry interrupted. He was looking just as amused as Ron and Hermione was highly embarrassed. "In that case, take an extra day from the Ministry if you'd like."

"You've got to be kidding."

"Not in the slightest. You need a man in your life other than us. This is a good thing."

"Wow, I think I've just been insulted."

Ron's smile had reached ear to ear and he shook his head and placed a hand on Hermione's shoulder. "Insulted with love, 'Mione… Insulted with undeniable love,"

* * *

Hermione deemed her friends insane without a doubt, and when they parted their separate ways from the Ministry, she found a good enough alley for her to use the portkey from. Though she wasn't going with Harry and Ron anymore, she hadn't dashed his idea of how to pack. Everything had been put together last night and that morning she had shrunk her luggage to the size of a pebble and stuck it in her pockets. Within a split second Hermione was being whisked away by the portkey and found her feet being splashed by the sea as its tide came in and pulled out at a consistent rhythm.

"You're here earlier than I thought you'd be." Draco's voice reached her ears. Hermione found it strange that she heard it from behind her and turned around to see him standing in the sea, water reaching just above his waist when the wave was low and up to his chest with the wave was high.

"I packed last night." Hermione smiled. "Shrunk them and brought them to work with me so when I was done I could come straight here."

"Smart woman, though that fact was never disputed."

Draco drew closer to her until the sea water was only licking him as high as his shins. Hermione tried her hardest not to stare. His swimwear was only a pair of trunks after all, and it didn't help that he was dripping wet and that the sun was shining brilliantly. Once Draco was in front of her he moved to hug her, but Hermione expertly dodged him and placed her hands on her hips.

"You've got to be kidding." Hermione huffed and Draco crossed his arms about his chest.

"What? Reached your quota for hugging your enemy one too many times?"

"I'd gladly hug you if you weren't _wet_."

Draco grinned mischievously. "That's your problem, is it? Well, Granger, I hate to tell you this, but you're going to have to deal with it."

Before Hermione could protest, she was in the middle of Draco arms in one the warmest and most wet hugs she had ever felt. Yes, her front was now damp, but she supposed it was a fair trade.

"See, this isn't so bad." Hermione heard him say. His chin was resting on her forehead, and she nodded as she remarked how he still had the scent of his cologne even though he had been in the water. "Now, what's going to happen next might be a little worse."

Hermione looked up in an instant. Draco was swift and, with a huge smile, picked her up in his arms and made his way back into the sea where he had been when she came.

"Malfoy! Stop! Are you insane?"

"I'd like to think not."

"B-but!" Hermione couldn't get down from Draco's arms, and even if she did, then what? She'd be waist-deep in water. She sighed, wrapped her arms tighter around his neck and shook her head, feeling the waves drenching her thighs, waist, and a bit of her torso. "Oh, why do I put up with you?"

"I have a theory about that." Draco smiled. He looked down at Hermione, gazing at her face intently and watching her lips curve up into a smile of its own.

"And your theory is?"

"I'll tell you later."

* * *

 **Author's note:** Hermione dodged a bullet with Günter thanks to Christian, not to mention she gets to see Draco again since he's covering her tracks. Quite helpful Christian is. A little _too_ helpful, if you ask me.

Thanks for all of your reads/reviews!

-WP


	8. Hiding on Vacation

Hermione had completely forgotten that her luggage was shrunken and in her pocket. She only remembered after coming out of the sea with Draco, but luckily magic was something that saved lives. A simple wand movement took away the water from her clothes and they were as good as new.

Draco had left her in order to prepare them something to eat while Hermione unpacked. She would be eating dinner twice tonight, since the sun was only just showing signs of going down when she had arrived and in England the sun had been gone for hours already. She didn't mind of course since she had become infatuated with Draco's cooking, magically made or not.

Twenty or so minutes of getting her clothes in order and finding two new gowns in her closet, Hermione went out onto the balcony shortly before Draco came to her room with a letter in his hand.

"Your friends miss you already."

Hermione grinned as she left the balcony to greet him and took the letter from his hand. "Either they miss me or they ran into a problem they couldn't fix themselves."

Draco laughed. He took the liberty to lay on her bed as she eyed the letter. "It's from Weasley."

She nodded in understanding, but on the inside was confused. Draco said it was from Ron. The name on the outside of the letter said Ron as well. But the handwriting with which it was written didn't agree. Hermione opened it and only saw one sentence. It was a question really. And when she realized the type of parchment it was and the way the inside of it was constructed, she grew conscientious, and turned to look at Draco who was still reclining on her bed.

"Aren't you supposed to be cooking?"

"It's taking care of itself."

"Oh really..?" Hermione put her hands on her hips and huffed. "And can it take care of itself when it starts burning? I can already smell a bit of smoke."

"Come on, Granger, it's not…" Draco paused, sniffed the air a bit, and then rolled his eyes. "Don't say a word." He added to her as he left, expecting her to give an I-told-you-so sentiment, but Hermione wasn't riding that train of thought at the moment.

She turned to at sit a desk that she had politely requested Draco to place in her room. It was adorned with a few books he thought she'd like, a photo that they had taken of themselves the last time she was there, a stack of parchment, ink, and some quills, one of which Hermione took and tapped the feather end nervously on the desktop.

 _Having fun?_

That was the single sentence written on the parchment at the very top of it and Hermione refused to answer it. Instead she took a deep breath and asked a question of her own.

 _-What do you want, Christian?_

Hermione wrote those words directly underneath the first set. A few seconds later new words appeared directly below it.

 _To know exactly what I asked… Are you having fun?_

 _-Yes, I am as a matter of fact. I'm learning how to ski tomorrow afternoon._

 _Harry and Ron will be. You, on the other hand, will be doing something entirely different._

 _-And what exactly are you implying?_

 _That you're not with your friends…_

 _-Based on what assumption?_

 _I have my ways. As a fellow Auror, you should be privy to them._

 _-…You've been spying on me_

 _You would do the same_

 _-I don't care and I'm ending this conversation._

Hermione set her quill aside and scrunched up the parchment she had been writing on. With her wand it was lit on fire in a heartbeat and nonexistent. Sighing, she placed her head in her hands. She should've known that this was happening. She didn't know why she was even surprised. Whoever was watching her, unless it was Christian himself, must've seen her in that alley with the portkey. Or maybe it was known that she was supposed to be on that trip with Harry and Ron, and when it was found out that she wasn't there her house was checked, and the conclusion that she was with Draco was drawn.

Whatever the case, Draco had to know. Hermione left her room and headed downstairs where Draco had set up the kitchen table so they could eat. They ate with lighthearted conversation, laughs, and smiles. Afterwards there was still room for tea. Draco had already gone through his second cup while Hermione still had her first cup in her hands. She had been staring at the steam that had been rising out of it. It was gone by now, naturally, and had she not been so focused on it, she would've noticed that Draco had been focused on her. He had been studying her face and every act of her body language the moment they had started dinner, and it hadn't taken much to realize that something was the matter.

"Alright, Granger," Draco said as he pushed his cup aside. "What's wrong?"

Hermione looked up at him and shrugged. She finally took a sip of her tea and cringed, the taste being completely awful. "Nothing, I was just thinking." She replied and used her wand to bring her tea back to life with the proper temperature.

"Thinking about what?"

"About…" Hermione sighed. If she didn't say anything now it would simply devour her. She took a long sip from her tea, set her cup down, and just came out with it. "About Christian… I was thinking about Christian. That guy at one of the parties we went to and who I had lunch with, remember? Malfoy, he's an Auror."

Hermione stared into his face, waiting to see what his reaction would be. To her surprise there wasn't any. His face remained the same and he rose to his feet. He went over to the stove to retrieve the kettle and pour more water into his teacup. As he set the kettle back where he had taken it from and sat down, he turned his gaze towards her.

"I know."

" _You_ _know?_ How could you have-?"

"As a wanted criminal you learn to tell who's an Auror, who's not, who could be, and who the potential rats are who can turn you over. Christian wasn't too hard to figure out."

"You knew all this time and yet you still encouraged me to have lunch with him?" Hermione questioned, beginning to feel angry. "Some smart move, that was."

"It was the smartest move I could ever make." Draco countered. He took a moment to heat up his tea like she had, took a sip, and then continued speaking. "Do you want to know why fugitives hiding in plain sight get caught? It's because they begin to _actually_ hide. Aurors expect you to hide. They expect you to be cautious and not to move too suddenly. That's when they get suspicious. So, I'm open. I don't back down. The average Auror, not finding anything big enough for an arrest, will eventually back off."

Hermione hated to admit it, but Draco was making sense. She frowned and watched as he drained off his third cup and then headed to the area behind her seat where the sink was situated. She listened to him wash the cup. Though what he said had restored some sort of hope within her, she still wasn't convinced.

"Christian's not the average Auror." Hermione turned around in her seat just as Draco was drying his hands and turning around to her voice. He set the dishrag aside and shrugged.

"Then _if_ he catches me, I can't say that I didn't have one hell of a vacation." Draco said nonchalantly.

"So I suppose the advice you'll give me is not to hide then? Even though the letter that you gave to me was from Christian and not really Ron..?"

"What?"

Hermione nodded. "Harry and Ron went on a ski trip. I was supposed to go, but I didn't because you owled me. The only way Christian could know that I skipped out on them was if he was spying on me and-"

"Wait, wait, you ditched your friends for me?"

"Yes, but Malfoy _focus_. Christian-"

Draco was staring at Hermione up and down. And finally having settled on her face that still bore a look of nervousness, disappointment, and utter dread, he began to laugh.

" _Malfoy_ ," Hermione frowned. "What are you laughing for? This is a serious situation here!"

"I know this is serious, trust me. But _you_ are wonderful." Draco smiled, choosing to enclose the space between them. "You were going to spend a weekend with your best friends, but completely blew them off because of me. You know what that means, don't you?"

Hermione began smiling as well. She placed her hands on her hips and lifted her chin in a haughty, yet childish manner. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Draco chuckled. "Then let me _enlighten_ you. You like me. And as more than just a friend."

"Perhaps..." Hermione could feel her cheeks redden, but hoped she didn't look like a beet. She could've left it there. She could've laughed it off, walked away, _anything_ really. But instead she was brave. "What about you?"

There were several ways for Draco to answer her question, but his response was inarguably the best. Hermione could've guessed that Draco would kiss her, but that still didn't stop the surprise that came when he brought his lips to hers. It was soft and subtle, and she found it amusing that as the tips of their tongues touched she could taste the hints of lemon that he had had in his tea. And before the pending intensity of the kiss grew, they gently pulled away, their foreheads touching, and their eyes staring directly into each other's.

"Does that answer your question?" Draco asked in a quiet whisper. Hermione placed her hands on the back of his neck, feeling the heat of his skin mesh with hers and his tiny baby hairs tickling the tips of her fingers. She played coy and shrugged as she rubbed the sides of his neck with her thumbs.

"I suppose. Clarification would be nice, though." Hermione smiled, and Draco smiled too, placing his hands on either side of her face and kissing her one more time. All subtleties had gone out the window then, and if Draco hadn't proved that he cared about her with the first kiss, he certainly did with the second.

* * *

Hermione would've been a liar and a hypocrite to deny her thoughts of what it would've been like to sleep with Draco. She remembered the first time it had crossed her mind and it was at the oddest moment: that day when she had let him go. She had been facing the wall so as not to see when he had gone. And just when she was going to turn around to see if he had fled, his hands had made his way to her waist, and his lips were close to her mouth as he planted a kiss on her cheek.

Hermione had been reminded of that moment when Draco had kissed her that second time. It was easy because his hands were on her waist. He was kissing her the way she wished he had months ago. He was doing everything she wished he had done every time they were alone together and it was inconceivable.

Draco's touch was a tease. It was like silk against Hermione's skin, perfectly sliding against it in a soft, pleasurable fashion. His tongue was as sweet as his words and his breath tickled the sides of her neck and everywhere else Draco saw fit to kiss.

But even then, they remained virgins to each other. Had they lost all control, they could've claimed one another as their own, but instead time slowed. It slowed enough for them to stop. It wasn't the right time; a time where they both had to hide and couldn't share what they had in private in public. And so the moments spent from the kitchen to Hermione's bedroom wrapped up in the other was just as Draco's touch: a tease.

And even now, he teased her still. Hermione was finding it impossible to sleep. She was curled up in Draco's arms tightly and securely, and his fingers were gently moving from her shoulder and down her arm repeatedly.

"…Your skin is flawless." Hermione heard him say. "Untainted… Clean of any imperfections." Draco sighed and settled his roaming hand in hers. "If only mine was the same."

Hermione scrunched up her face in confusion. She had seen enough of him to know that his skin was just as "flawless" as hers. But she soon began to frown, realizing that Draco's words weren't meant to be literal. She squeezed his hand and turned to better face him.

"We can never have each other." Draco frowned. "You know that."

"You're wrong." Hermione contradicted. She placed a hand on his cheek and felt how warm it was. Even now he was clenching his jaw though she couldn't tell simply by looking at him. "We could, but we won't. Why torture each other? At the end of the day I'm still an Auror and you're a fugitive."

"And we're in hell."

* * *

In the morning Hermione woke up to the feel of a cool breeze whipping her face. She yawned, stretched, and opened her eyes. Across her bedroom ceiling she could see the shadow of the curtains flowing in the wind. She smiled at it, seeing it as a bit of a beautiful scene, and then rolled out of bed to walk out onto her balcony. Draco was there, as she suspected he would be, and he smiled as Hermione joined him.

"Sleep well?" She asked.

Draco nodded. "With you sleeping next to me, of course I did."

Hermione blushed furiously and she did so even more when Draco began to laugh. "So, what are we doing today?"

"Haven't a single clue. But I do know what we're doing tonight."

Draco handed her a party invitation. Hermione accepted it gladly until she recognized the delicate handwriting with which it was written.

"Christian sent this."

"I know that."

"Then we're not going." She shook her head and handed him the invitation back. "We _can't_ go."

"Granger,-"

"Malfoy, _please_ … If you're going to go, fine, but I won't. Not after that letter last night."

"…He expects you to go." Draco said quietly. He opened the invitation and allowed her to see it more closely. "Your name is on the invitation."

He wasn't lying. Hermione saw her name clear as day and neatly written beneath Draco's faux name. She took a deep, nervous breath and nodded. Draco frowned. He took Hermione's hand and squeezed it.

"It's time for you to learn the tricks of the trade and put them into practice." Draco said softly. "Starting tonight,"

Hermione swallowed. She stared into Draco's eyes and raised her chin bravely. "Hiding in plain sight?"

"That's right. Hiding in plain sight,"

* * *

 **Author's note:** Well then, at least there was nothing to worry about in terms of Draco not knowing about Christian being an Auror. He can't be fooled so easily! Christian on the other is just toying with them now so nothing good can come out of that at all. At least Hermione and Draco finally admitted that they like each other!

Thanks for all the support guys :D

-WP


	9. Confidence

Hermione felt like the chemistry between her and Draco had changed. Instead of things simply being Draco hiding away and Hermione having had let him go, it was more intertwined than that. She was hiding a secret. That secret had her sneaking around her friends and others, and lying about her whereabouts and what she knew. Spies were on her. Suspicions were floating. Hermione felt like she was being attacked and who else would truly understand what she was feeling or know how to deal with it other than the man whom she had, undoubtedly, begun to fall for?

After leaving the balcony, Hermione followed Draco to her bed and sat on it face to face with him. Tricks of the trade included telling the truth. Unlike what most people thought, lying got a person into trouble more than getting out of it. Instead of fibbing, leaving out bits of "valuable information" was always the best route.

There was a loophole to everything even if one seemed impossible. Life was such the insane variable. And with so many components to it, how could anything be set in stone? "Don't give up no matter what." Draco insisted. He went on to say that those who ended up in Azkaban were the ones who stopped looking for those loopholes.

And with those loopholes, not all of them were pretty. Some may be ones that yield a negative consequence for others for a single person's benefit. It may be a route that's undesirable to take, but then again, these tricks were conceited and self-centered in nature anyway.

Most important of all it was to be positive and proud. "The best of us are smug for a reason, Granger. It's because we have to be." And so, faltering in confidence was an absolute no, even if things looked dire. Answer all questions with a smile, laugh off threats, make some of your own, and always walk away with the last word.

"And there's more, so much more." Draco told her. "But for now, this is enough."

Hermione nodded. She sighed and then smiled. "Come on. We've got to get ready now or else we'll be late."

* * *

Hermione chose a bronze-colored gown to wear for the night. It was a V-neck halter at the top, the back of the dress dipping into a low scoop and exposing much of her bare back. The entire dress was made out of silk and felt gorgeous when she slid her hands over it. Draco had been quite generous to her and had outdone himself by giving her gold, elongated tear-drop earrings, a gold choker necklace and bracelets to match.

With her hair gracefully piled on the top of her head, Hermione felt satisfied with herself. She had taken extra care when getting ready for the evening. Not just because she and Draco had gone up a few steps above the level of friendship and she wanted to look good for him, but also because the party was being hosted by Christian at his "own" place. Confidence was key, so Draco said. And who would deny dressing to kill to be a confidence booster?

A bit of shallow thinking, she knew, but Hermione allowed herself to do that once in a while. She smiled, picked up her gold clutch and left her room to head three doors down to Draco's bedroom. She placed her hand on the doorknob, gave it a soft turn, and found him standing in front of his mirror and fixing his collar.

"I could've been naked in here, you know." Draco said without turning around to her. Hermione laughed and walked further into the room.

"True, but at this point I don't think it would matter."

Draco laughed. He nodded in agreement and allowed Hermione to put on his cufflinks for him. As she did so he couldn't help but smile broadly. "Could you imagine doing this for me every day rather than once a month? Fixing my collar? Nagging me about something or another I've done or plan to do."

Hermione grinned. She could imagine it well: waking up next to him, spending time with him out on the balcony, walks along the seashore, sea baths, the occasional party, going to bed with him, and then waking up the next day to do it all over again. "Yes, I could. But considering how things are once a month will have to do."

Draco sighed and agreed, deciding that it was better than nothing at all. Once he was all set the two of them disapparated to a place just as warm as the condo. Hermione stared at Draco curiously as they walked hand-in-hand up to the two-story manor from the front gate they had appeared in front of. He knew why she was gazing at him so intently and he nodded.

"Yes, it's close by." Draco whispered and Hermione frowned. He went on to tell her that Christian's manor wasn't _that_ nearby, but if this place and Draco's condo shared even an eighth of the same likeness in temperature, it made her feel on edge.

"He shouldn't be this close." Hermione said to Draco after they greeted some people whom they knew. "This shows you how much he knows."

"To hell with all of that… He's just guessing. Just remember to what we agreed."

Hermione sighed and nodded. What they had agreed upon before leaving the condo was how things would run that night and every night afterwards. Draco had always been cautious around Christian. He knew he was an Auror after all, but he had never viewed him more than a level six threat on a one to ten scale. Now that Christian was monitoring Hermione more closely than either she or Draco would like, their watchful enemy had gone up two levels and they had to be careful.

Tonight they would watch and listen. Hermione and Draco thought it best to spend the night apart and to see what was going on at the party around them. With it being hosted by Christian, it was more than certain that those individuals whom they didn't know may be other Aurors. That bit of information lessened the time either one of them wanted to be there.

Draco took the lower half of the massive dining hall and Hermione took the upper. What she saw and heard wasn't much. It was casual conversation; one or two talks she jumped into in order to make herself more sociable. Once or twice she spoke with someone she didn't know. She sized them up and down in her mind to decide whether they were Aurors or not. Sure she was an Auror herself, but the Auror Department was massive, and so she couldn't possibly know everyone. Out of the five strangers, two of them were Auror material, and Hermione avoided them for the rest of the night.

The only Auror Hermione didn't stay away from was Christian, whom she watched from a distance. She watched him talk to several people –to some seriously and some nonchalantly. She grew even more "spy-like" by inconspicuously taking out her wand and performing a spell to make Christian's conversations reach her ears better. By doing so Hermione heard her name. To more than six people he was asking about her, Draco too, and now more than ever she wanted to find Draco in this large crowd and tell him that they needed to go.

But of course, no matter how big the place or the party, Christian would somehow manage to find his way to her in a secluded corner with no one else around.

"Well, don't you look nice." Christian said with a smile. Hermione chose to ignore him and simply placed a tighter grip on her glass. At seeing that he didn't get a response from her, he continued, smiling even broader. "I'm sorry. Did I say the wrong thing? How about amazing? You look amazing. Is that better?"

Hermione continued to ignore him and took a rather long sip of her champagne. She desperately wished that Draco would make his way back to her, but seeing as how the source of all discontent was standing next to her it wouldn't have been such a good idea.

"I guess I should say that no matter how you look tonight, you really shouldn't be coming to functions such as these anymore. It won't look too good for you in the long run, you know."

"As I recall it, you invited me." Hermione snapped at him, finding it rather hard to keep quiet after that comment. "My name was on the invitation."

"Didn't mean that you had to come." Christian reasoned. He amusingly watched as Hermione's face turned an interesting shade of red and took a deep and contented breath. "But what does it matter? Invitation or not, we both know that Malfoy – _Darius_ –would've brought you along anyway. You are, after all, his love interest-"

"Where'd you get the place?" She interrupted him. Hermione gestured to the manor that they were in and kept her expression as neutral as possible when she looked at him. He chuckled, his eyes darting past her and scanning the crowd.

"Ministry owned," He replied without looking at her. Hermione began staring into the crowd as well, her eyes finally falling upon Draco who was in deep conversation. "…He knows I'm an Auror, doesn't he?"

"What makes you think that?"

"Mr. Vaughn's been avoiding me like the plague."

Hermione grinned. "Missing his company are you?"

"Stop it; you know what I mean." Christian scowled. He sucked his teeth and picked up a glass of champagne from a floating tray. "I thought I had you pegged right, but obviously not. I thought you wouldn't tell him I'm an Auror."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

" _Hermione_ ,-"

" _Christian_ ," Hermione gritted her teeth furiously and placed a hand on her hip. "For Merlin's sake, will you stop? Look around. We're at a _party_. _Your_ party… We're not in a bloody interrogation room and I'd appreciate it if you'd stop questioning everyone!"

"I'm not questioning everyone, I'm questioning _you_!" Christian shot back and Hermione let out a sharp, stern, laugh and settled her eyes on him again.

"In case you've forgotten, I'm an Auror too. I've been watching you and I've been listening. I'm not the only one you've been questioning. Why can't you just leave Darius alone? Why can't you leave us _both_ alone?"

"Because in case _you've_ forgotten, that's not what Aurors do. We persist."

Hermione huffed. She shook her head and angrily clenched the hand on her hip before catching Draco's eye some twenty people away. "Then I tell you this, I didn't tell him. Take that as you wish, but I'm leaving."

Hermione shoved her empty champagne glass into Christian's free hand and began to leave him. She was still holding Draco's gaze and as carefully as possible she raised her right hand to her ear. The tip of her thumb was touching her index finger –kind of what the letter "P" looked like in ASL, but upside down. It was that sign that Draco saw. That was one of the last things they had decided between them: a small sign that meant danger was near and that they needed to leave wherever they were.

Draco met up with her outside of the manor. Hermione gave one last look back at the party they were leaving behind and saw that Draco was doing the same. He sighed and reached out for her arm. "This is the last." He told her, and Hermione shallowly thought of the parties she'd no longer go to and the gowns she'd no longer wear.

* * *

After leaving Christian's temporary manor Hermione felt down. By all means Christian hadn't taken away any of her fighter's spirit. On the contrary he had made her stronger. She was determined to keep him away from Draco as best she could for as long as she could. She also wouldn't crumble under Christian's tight scrutiny, nor his subtle threats, confident nature, or unwavering persistence. To be honest, as hard-pressed as he was, Hermione was sure that she could handle him. What she couldn't handle at the moment was guilt.

Everything was fine before she came into the picture. Draco was having a good life outside of Azkaban even though he was still being watched. The moment he had sent her that first portkey things had taken a steady fall. Watchful eyes became heavier and suspicions became clearer. Hermione couldn't help but feel that Draco was better off without her there, but to make him realize that would be damn near impossible. But no matter the difficulty, the danger surrounding them took precedence.

For three hours Hermione tried to express her fears to Draco. The moment they had gone back to the condo she tried, but her attempts were foiled partly because of her apprehension and partly because Draco's lips had taken over her own. The last two and a half hours they lay in bed wrapped up in each other's arms not saying much but simply enjoying the silence. It was broken by Draco who made the perfect leeway into what Hermione was too afraid to say.

"Are you going to tell me or not?"

"Tell you what?"

"What you're thinking about that's causing those worry lines in your forehead."

 _Such a blessing and a curse…_ Hermione thought in reference to Draco being able to pick up on whatever she was feeling. Sighing, she turned her body so that she could better see him. "It was better before I came, wasn't it? Calmer..? Easier..? Less dangerous..?"

Draco was confused. He searched her face for an explanation of her words but she hastily finished with a discontented breath. "Admit it. If I had never come here in the first place, sure Christian would still be hounding you but it wouldn't be so-"

"-Stop," Draco ordered. He placed a hand on her cheek, his thumb over her lips, and quickly shook his head. "Don't you dare go on with what you're thinking."

"How can I not?" Hermione moved his hand so she could better speak and then buried her head in his chest so she wouldn't have to look at him. "How can I deny that my being here has made everything so much the more difficult?" She looked up into his face with saddened eyes and frowned. "How I can stop thinking about this when I know that you know I'm right?"

Draco copied her frown. He pulled Hermione closer to him and cradled her as though she were a child. With a sigh he spoke bold and firm, determined to get the last word whether she liked it or not.

"The truth is this. Yes, you're right. If we had truly gone our separate ways Christian's suspicions would hold no value. I'd just be some young guy who decided to live it up on a beach shore and enjoy a party or two. He would've left me alone. He would've surmised that there was nothing to gain from watching me and moved on to his next arrestee. But because of you, that isn't so. Christian's the type of Auror to put two seemingly disconnected pieces of evidence together and find out what's missing that makes them fit. We're that evidence, and he's finding the link.

'I like my freedom, Granger. Hell, I love it. I'd rather Avada myself than go back to Azkaban and I mean that. And I bet you're thinking, why don't I just be an arse about it and tell you that we should go our separate ways –as we should've at the start –and never speak or see each other again.

'I don't know what we are, but I know we're not friends. We moved past that when I kissed you. And you know what? I refuse to let you go. We're in this until the end. And trust me that we'll fight tooth and nail before we get there."

Hermione felt uplifted. Draco's words had put a stop to her own and to be honest she felt like shedding a tear or two. She didn't though, finding it a weakness she had rather not show, and instead she smiled. He asked if she was satisfied now and Hermione playfully answered no.

"Not until you do something," Hermione said softly and soon found herself and Draco sharing a kiss that made her not only feel safe, but loved.

* * *

 **Author's note:** Well, all I can say is that this is the last "calm" chapter before the storm. It gets pretty rocky after this so at least Hermione and Draco got to have at least one peaceful night together before it does.

Thanks for all the support everyone!

-WP


	10. Photos that Condemn

On Monday Hermione sadly left Draco in order to return to England. She would've left the day before if Harry hadn't suggested taking the Monday off in order to spend more time with her "friend." That extra day hadn't made leaving any easier; especially since Hermione wasn't sure when she'd be able to take the next portkey.

Going to see Draco this time around had been risky. Yes, Christian had admitted to willingly cleaning up her trail, but that didn't mean that Hermione should've jumped the wagon so easily. To use him like that surely would've led to complications if it hadn't already. And the more she involved herself in Draco's life the closer Christian would stick to her.

 _I guess I'm going to have to get crafty…_ Hermione sighed. She placed her luggage onto her bed and ran through her future maneuvers as she unpacked. And yet while she was unpacking, Hermione caught sight of the Daily Prophet that was lying at the foot of her bed. The front page held a photo of a local politician, the inside pages probably containing an interview about his views on the new policies that the Minister of Magic recently passed. And on the bottom right hand corner there was another photo, one that made Hermione stop unpacking altogether and raise the paper to her eyes.

" _This can't be happening_." Hermione breathed, for she was staring at a small photo of herself from the "party" at Christian's over the weekend. "This isn't supposed to be here! Christian said…"

Hermione stopped herself. Any sentence beginning with "Christian said" posed problems. Instead of ruminating on the fact that she had been featured on the front of a prominent newspaper at a party, to others, she had no business attending, she stuffed her feet into a pair of shoes and Flooed straight to the Ministry. No, the federal building wasn't open and yes, it had closed several hours before, but Hermione had clearance so that she could enter at any time of day or night. And if she had clearance, so did Christian.

And luckily for her, Christian was a workaholic. His office door had been closed, but Hermione could see faint light peering out from the crack under the door. The door wasn't locked and without knocking she entered Christian's office exhibiting all the anger in the world.

"I thought you were stopping them!" Hermione shouted. Though however loud her shout, Christian didn't look up from whatever it was that he was writing. He simply smiled.

"Well, isn't this something? Hermione, here in my office… What a lovely surprise. Couldn't have come at a decent hour, though?"

Hermione's cheeks burned with rage and she slammed the newspaper onto his desk in order to force him to look up at her. "You said you were stopping them. What the hell happened?"

Christian searched her face and then stared down at the front page of the Daily Prophet. As he gazed at it, the smile that was already on his lips began to grow. "Hmm… Well, seems like one of them must've…slipped by."

"Slipped by? _Slipped by?_ "

"That's right." Christian leaned back in his chair and put his hands behind his head. "Slipped by,"

Hermione scowled. "You know, you're usually a good liar, but tonight you're awful. This photograph didn't just _slip by_ right beneath your nose. You let them do this. You let them publish this picture of me. What happened to helping me?"

"For Merlin's sake, I never thought I'd see the day when you'd be so bloody needy."

"Needy? _I'm_ being needy?"

"Yeah, you are. You've grown so dependent on me keeping you out of the spotlight it's pathetic."

Hermione was appalled. She was about to retort that she was in no way being pathetic and that he was just being an arse when she realized that Christian was right. Huffing, Hermione took back the paper that she had laid on his desk and folded it neatly so that it could fit in her pocket. Afterwards she crossed her arms about her chest and sighed.

"You're right. I am being pathetic. Of all people you, who's my enemy at this point, I've been relying on to keep me out of trouble. It was stupid, but don't worry. I learn from my mistakes. What I want to know is what changed? Why all of a sudden have you cut back on what you said you'd do?"

Christian sighed. He crossed his arms and gave a sharp shrug of his shoulders. "You probably don't believe me, but I do still want to help you. And sometimes, like a parent and their child, I've decided that I have to chastise you. That's what that photograph was for; to remind you that you're in the deepest ditch of your life. It'll cause complications for you, I know that. But if I really wanted to make your life hell, I could've done a lot worse."

Hermione narrowed her eyes at him and tried her hardest not to grind her teeth. This was ridiculous. _He_ was ridiculous and now she suddenly dreaded for tomorrow. No one could talk to her about the photo today because she obviously hadn't been at work. But once she walked into the Ministry the next day, a wall of troubles would be surrounding her. It was apparent that Christian didn't want to see Hermione all the way at the bottom of the hill, but with this photo of her she'd certainly be close enough to it. How Christian would control this situation was the question, but until then, Hermione would stay afloat alone.

Hermione took a deep breath and raised her chin as proudly as she could. "I'm too old to be chastised."

With that, Hermione fled his office. If she had stayed a little longer, she would've heard Christian's reply that insinuated that no one was too old to be punished.

* * *

That photograph of Hermione haunted her in her sleep. Whenever she closed her eyes she saw herself smiling broadly, holding a champagne glass in her hand, and turning to speak to someone of whose body only half was seen. Before going to bed, Hermione had opened the paper and gone to the page that talked about the party. Nothing much was said. The party was accredited to someone named Hanson Meads –a made up name, surely procured by Christian so that the article could be published. The mansion was described, how beautiful it looked and all the wonderful decorations. And of course, the final paragraph talked of how tons of people had turned up for the event, including Hermione Granger who apparently "decided to put down the books and pick up a perfectly-made bronze gown and socialize."

Those last few words wouldn't be the death of her, but what came after that would certainly would do the trick. It was three sentences detailing how that wasn't her first glamorous social gathering and that she had attended one at the Robeson Mansion. Geoffrey Günter had been at that party. He had admitted it during Christian's interview and there was no doubt in Hermione's mind that someone would put those bits of information together. And when that someone did, he or she would come asking her questions about her involvement with Günter.

"And with a link to Günter could mean a link to Draco." Hermione reasoned as she got dressed that morning. She sighed bitterly and took off for work. She had written to Ron saying that she wouldn't be joining him for breakfast and would be heading straight to the Ministry instead. And though Hermione was craving Ron's famous Weasley Waffles, she had to pass. She wanted to make it into the Ministry before the majority of workers got there. She wanted to avoid the stares, as she was sure there would be.

With luck on her side, Hermione managed to make it to her office without anyone stopping her or feeling like eyes were on her. She sat at her desk contentedly and rested her head in her hands. She wanted to stay that way for a few minutes before she got down to business. Some time to breathe was all that Hermione wanted, but unfortunately, she wasn't about to get it.

A memo flew in from under her door and landed neatly on her desk. Hermione frowned, opened it, and stared at it with heaviness in her chest.

 _I need to speak with you immediately_

 _-Harry_

Hermione took a hard swallow and wasted no time in making it to Harry's office. Delaying the inevitable would've only caused her more stress. Now if only she was able to freeze herself in time, that would be a much better deal.

"Harry?" Hermione said hesitantly as she walked into his office. Harry was standing behind his desk and staring through the large ceiling to floor window that complimented his office beautifully.

"Sit." Harry ordered. Silence ensued and Hermione didn't move. Some seconds passed before Harry added, "Please."

Hermione responded to this nicer tone. She walked away from the door and sat down in front of his desk. Once seated, Harry tore himself away from the window, drew the curtains together, and sat down. He smiled. Hermione did the same but hers didn't look nearly as forced as Harry's did.

"Enjoy your weekend?"

"Um…" Hermione paused. His question wasn't what she was expected, but she nodded nonetheless. "I did. It was good."

"I guess that means your 'friend' treated you well, then?"

"Very well,"

Harry nodded in understanding. He cleared his throat and stared pass her for a moment and reverted his eyes back to her. "And he took you out, I'm sure. Couldn't leave you in the house all day-"

"Don't use your Auror tactics on me, Harry, please." Hermione fiddled with the hem of her left sleeve as she casted her gaze to her lap. "I know you saw the Daily Prophet. Damn photographers. Always around, always in your business…"

"I know you didn't just look at the photo on the front. You read what they wrote and you know that's why I called you in here." Harry sighed. He took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "When did you go to that other party?"

"On my sabbatical,"

"And you know who was there, don't you?"

"Günter, yes,"

"And I'm sure you know that the day we arrested him why Christian was just as interested in interrogating him as we were?"

Hermione took a deep breath and raised her gaze to Harry. She slowly nodded. "I know this looks bad, Harry, but-"

"This doesn't _look_ bad, Hermione. It _is_ bad. The whole Auror Department had a field day when we saw this!"

Harry suddenly stood from his seat and ran his hands through his hair. He pulled back the curtain a bit and began staring out of the window again. He ignored Hermione when she called his name and kept his gaze straight when he spoke to her again. "Go home. You're not allowed to work today. Someone from the Department will be at your house waiting to question you."

"Why there and not here?" Hermione asked. She had gotten up from her seat, internally begging Harry to turn around and look at her. "If I'm going to be questioned I should be in an interrogation room or holding cell or-"

"I'm your boss, Hermione. I can do what I want with you." Harry gently peered over his shoulder to stare at her. Though his face was stern, a small smile was still playing on his lips. "And it's like the Ministry once said. I'm too lenient on you. Go."

* * *

Hermione went back to her office to find one of her coworkers waiting for her. He said that he was there to escort her home, which obviously meant that the Ministry didn't trust her to do as she was told. Sighing, she complied. The magical and muggle security Hermione had on her house had been broken and, as Harry had said, there was someone waiting for her along with Christian who had taken liberty to sit in her favorite armchair.

"Miss Granger, Mr. Potter told you why we're here?" a rather aged man with thinning hair asked her. Hermione nodded. She sat down in front of him and cupped her hands in order to stop herself from pulling at the loose thread from her blouse. "My name is Julius Maynard. I'll be conducting the interrogation. You went to a function at Irene and Vernon Robeson's mansion in St. Lucia on August the eighteenth, did you not?"

Hermione had no time to ruminate on the fact that she had gone to an island in the West Indies and hadn't had the opportunity to bask in the fun of it. She answered yes to Mr. Maynard's question and he went on.

"And you saw Geoffrey Günter at that event, yes?"

"I did, yes."

"Were you aware that Geoffrey Günter was friends with a man named Darius Vaughn? The same Darius Vaughn whom Auror Matthews is investigating because he believes that that man is Draco Malfoy in disguise..?"

Hermione promptly shook her head. "No, I didn't."

Christian scoffed in the background. Hermione shot him a glare she was sure he could feel and turned back to Mr. Maynard whose Quick Notes Quill was travelling across his notepad rapidly. "Who did you attend the party with?"

"I…" Hermione froze. If she said she went with Darius, more questions would ensue until she came across one she couldn't wean herself out of. If she said that she went alone, Christian would no doubt say that he was at that party too and disclose whom she was with. There was only one response she could come back with. "I refuse to answer."

Christian's eyebrows raised and Mr. Maynard and the Auror who escorted Hermione home stared at her curiously. "You…what..?"

"I _refuse_ to answer." Hermione repeated. "I'm not a dimwit. I'm an Auror just like the rest of you and I know what you're getting at. I won't do it. I won't give you the leverage to arrest a man who's _not_ who you think he is."

"Miss Granger," Mr. Maynard was perplexed. He wiped his sweating brow and protested. "You can't be serious. You do realize what you're doing, don't you? What we'll have to do if you don't comply-?"

"Yes I know. Darius Vaughn is my friend. He is _not_ Draco Malfoy, and I'll contest that to the end."

Hermione rose to her feet and turned in Christian's direction. She placed one wrist on top of the other and raised them to him. "I'll walk when this is over."

Christian huffed. He raised his wand to her wrists and soon they were bounded tightly. "What makes you think that?"

"Because you can't prove anything," Hermione said confidently and allowed Christian to take her by the upper arm and disapparate away with her.

* * *

 **Author's note:** I told you all the calm was over! And now Hermione's been arrested. I'm sure Christian's on everyone's hate list by now. If not, he sure will be soon enough.

A big thanks as always! :)

-WP


	11. Nighttime Visits

Hermione hated a lot of things. One of them was photographers. The moment she and Christian got to the Ministry where she'd be taken to the Ministry holding cells, cameras were flashing nonstop. She was sure that the Daily Prophet the next day would have several lovely photos of her. One with Christian dragging her along, one with her glaring at him with all the hatred in the world, and one with her holding her head up high in spite of all the ruckus going on around her. Of all the photos, she hoped that one made the front.

The Ministry holding cells resembled the ones at Azkaban with the exception of Dementors. They were made like that for purpose so that if or when the sentence was carried out, the arrestee wouldn't have so much of a shock when he or she was transferred from one prison to another. It was the Dementors the arrestee would have to get used to. But of course everyone knew there was no getting used to creatures like that.

Hermione had been arrested on charges for failure to comply in an investigation and withholding evidence. The withholding evidence part might be done away with since there was no proving that she had any evidence to begin with. But without a doubt the charges about failure to comply would stick because she had made it up in her mind to say nothing. The more she said the more of a chance Christian had to prove who Darius really was. If she kept her mouth closed he could only work with what he had, and what Christian had was only hunches.

Hermione had everything played out in her mind. She'd keep refusing to answer their questions and when they had enough they'd offer her a deal. Aurors were all about deals so they could get what they wanted. They would try to entice her –to give her a reason why she should fess up what she was hiding. But whatever it was that they tried to offer could never be better than what she already wanted: Draco to be free so that he could live a life of peace and, of course, share that life of peace with her.

But once Aurors realized that Hermione was a forever sealed case, they would turn to their only other possible source for information: Günter. It's possible that he wouldn't want to comply and give up his friend, but that whole "I'll make you an offer" thing would come into play. Günter had been arrested on charges of forgery and fraud through his shoppe in Knockturn Alley. He would lose his shoppe and everything he worked for _unless_ he cooperated. "If you tell us about Hermione Granger and Darius Vaughn, the charges will be dropped." That's what Aurors will tell him, and Günter would waste no time in revealing that Hermione hadn't gone to that party alone and who she had gone with.

"What then?" Hermione asked herself as she paced in her cell. She could continue to play hardball, but what good would that do if Günter ratted her out? She'd be fighting a losing battle then, standing in the middle of nowhere and practically hanging herself.

Hermione sighed. She sat on the uncomfortable cot that was provided in the cell and stared blankly ahead. She didn't even hear when her cell door opened and closed or saw who was standing a few feet away from her.

"You're stubborn as hell, you know that?" Ron accused. Hermione looked up at him and nodded. She moved over to one side of her cot and patted the empty space next to her. Ron sat down and nervously rubbed his hands from knees to thighs repeatedly. He took a second to poke the cot and he frowned. "I hate these bloody things."

Hermione rolled her eyes and chuckled. "They're not supposed to be comfy, Ron. The people who get put here aren't exactly supposed to be honored guests."

"…You lied to Harry and me." Ron forced a cough and continued. "That party you went to where Günter was… You were supposed to be in Australia."

"Apparating is useful." Hermione said coolly. "So is the Floo. I could've used either one to get to the Robeson Mansion, enjoy myself for a few hours, and then go back to my hotel. Why can't you believe that story?"

Ron stared at his feet. He looked back at Hermione with sadness in his eyes and took her hand. "Because it's just a story."

Hermione hastily wrenched her hand from Ron's and got up from the cot. She paced the room twice and then stopped, arms to her side, chest heaving, and her face fixed with a complicated array of emotions.

"I didn't tell them anything so I can't tell you either." Hermione felt tears springing to her eyes but she blinked them back down and felt them sting. "And even if I did, so what? You'd just tell me that I'm being hardheaded."

Ron rolled his eyes. He stood from the cot with a frustrated sigh and hardened his jaw. "If you give them what they want, they'll let you go."

"If I give them what they want, I don't get what _I_ want."

Ron stared at her curiously. "What _do_ you want?"

Hermione bit her tongue. She crossed her arms and looked off to her right so she wouldn't have to face Ron. "I want Darius to be left alone."

"That's something you probably won't get." Ron informed her. He made his way to the door of Hermione's cell and stopped. "They're not making you a deal, Hermione. Aurors are interrogating Günter now."

* * *

After Ron left Hermione did a lot of thinking. There wasn't anything else for her to do, so why not? She paced for a while. She was sure that she had made an impression on the cement floor with all the pacing she had done. But when she realized that she hadn't however, it depressed her further and she reduced herself to her cot.

Hermione thought about Draco. She thought about how clueless he was at the moment of what she was going through for him. She wondered at what he would tell her if he was there. Would he call her brave? Or would he call her stupid? Brave for sticking up for the relationship that was slowly molding between them, or stupid for sticking up for something that they could never truly have?

Sighing, Hermione racked her brain trying to figure out what the hell she was doing. There were so many motives behind her actions that it was hard to determine which had the strongest drive. Wanting Draco to have a peace of mind and be with her was obviously one of them. But Hermione couldn't help but shamefully think that part of the reason that she was in a Ministry holding cell was because she couldn't stand the sight of Christian.

No, she wasn't in a dark and dingy room several feet below ground just so she wouldn't have to be in Christian's presence. Hermione was there because she was tired of seeing that smug, I-always-win look on his face. He was so sure of what he knew and there was no way that he could be wrong. It didn't matter that in this particular case that he was right. The only thing that mattered was that Hermione refused to be intimidated. And though the immediate future looked drear, she wasn't going to back down.

With all of that thinking, Hermione had failed to realize that the sun was going down. The cell was dark enough as it was and with the sun disappearing it would be even more so. There was no hope for a light and with that Hermione decided that it was time for bed. It'd be the earliest time she'd ever gone to sleep, but unless she wanted to go insane from counting the amount of cracks she felt in the walls, a change in sleeping habits would have to be endured.

And yet before she could get as comfortable as possible on her awful cot, Hermione could hear footsteps. Some seconds later she could hear knocking sounds on her cell door as if someone was trying to open it. In fact someone _was_ opening the door. Although Hermione thought it would be Christian who had come to gloat at her predicament, she was in for an entirely different shock.

Hermione sat upright and stared blindly. "Günter..?"

Günter closed the cell door behind him and stood awkwardly in front of it. He seemed to be nervous. He was continuously rubbing his hands together and then abruptly stopped when he found that Hermione was staring. "Hello, Miss Granger."

"What on earth are you doing here?"

"…I came to see you."

"Well, I gathered that much." Hermione scoffed. She rose to her feet and crossed her arms. "What I should've asked is _why_ are you here?"

Günter returned to playing with his hands. He took a deep breath and answered her question in a slow and hesitant manner. "I came because I wanted to….apologize to you. For all the things I said to the Aurors about you and about Draco."

Hermione huffed. "Apologize, huh? For the things you said about me and _Darius_. Aurors have you riding that train do they-?"

"There's no need to put up pretenses with me, Miss Granger." Günter was smiling. He stopped his nervous habit and placed his hands on the rim of his pants pockets. "You and I both know who Darius Vaughn really is. You know because you let him go. And I know because I've known him for years."

Hermione was taken aback. She opened her mouth to speak but found herself stuck on words. She supposed that that was a good thing for she couldn't help but feel that this was all wrong. "I'm not saying anymore. Get out."

With an eyebrow raised Günter stared at her curiously at her curt outburst. But after a second or so he began to smile again. "You think Aurors brought me down here, don't you? You think I'm bugged so that they can hear everything we're saying."

"It's something they would do. I should know; I've done it on occasion myself."

"Check me then."

Hermione watched as Günter took the customary search position. She wasted no time in checking all the places where a bug (quite literally a magically formed insect) could be and even some places where it couldn't. After she was satisfied, she nodded to him and he returned it.

"I really am sorry." Günter said again. Hermione waved him off. She sighed and sat back down on her cot.

"Don't. Once an offer is made it's pretty hard to resist."

"You wouldn't have taken yours if it had been offered to you?"

Hermione gently grinned and shook her head. "No, I wouldn't have. How do you know Draco?"

"I'm the one who got him started in the business that landed him in Azkaban in the first place." Günter leaned against the door and reminisced. "It was a wonderful ploy. All of that money gained in such a short amount of time amazed the hell out of me. And even when he was arrested and the Ministry seized it, what they had taken can only be compared to the size of a pebble."

"You seem to be quite proud of him."

"Oh I am. Always have been… I knew him before then as well. Call me an uncle to him, if you will. You didn't think that Draco learned all the tricks of the trade from just his father, did you? What he learned from dear ole Lucius was how to intimidate and manipulate. How to be a con man, well, Draco learned that from me.

'However, what Lucius and I failed to teach him was how to make sacrifices. Coming back disguised as a wealthy man was his first mistake. If he was less known or less of a threat, then yes, it would've been okay. But Draco was valued – _is_ valued. Attention was sprung onto him right away."

"How did you know it was Draco?"

"I called him out on it. What you have to realize is that the social elite is a very small circle. We may look like we're nothing but a recycled bunch of people, but in fact we're truly distinct from one another. I knew it was Draco after a few moments of talking to him. When he first saw me he should've ignored me. He should've steered clear away from me in case I found him out. Either way I did.

'The following week I called him by his real name instead of his faux one. Draco was so shocked that he was speechless. His face was paler than the walls and he disapparated on me right then and there. But I think he knew he couldn't get away from me that easy. Conning a con man is redundant. Aside from being good at taking people's money, I'm good at research. I looked for any and all abnormalities and pieced it together with Draco's tastes. I found the condo. And when I got there Draco was there waiting for me, laying on a beach towel under a large umbrella. I'll never forget the first thing he said to me that day. It made me laugh, truly."

"What was it?"

Günter grinned. "'Hello, Uncle Geoffrey.'"

Hermione was smiling. It sounded just like something Draco would do –to not make a big deal about things and just accept them for what they were.

"You love him, don't you?"

Hermione snapped out of her reverie and blushed furiously. "Oh, I wouldn't say that exactly."

"One day you will." Günter nodded. "This, what you're doing here, proves that. But anyway, I've got to get going. I should've been out of here and had my shoppe closed down ages ago."

"What? But, I thought in the deal they would've let you keep it? I'm sorry. Not that I'm encouraging running an illegitimate business, but…you could've gone legit."

"Could've, not that I would've… But alas, I have to get rid of it. And yet, they don't know how many shoppes I really have, now do they?"

Hermione laughed. Yes, trying to take down a con man was a difficult, if not impossible feat. Günter opened the cell door and gave her a wave goodbye. But before he left, she had one more thing to ask.

"If Aurors didn't send you down here to get a confession out of me, how did you get into my cell?"

"Among my many talents as a forger, I'm also quite good at disabling magical security." said proudly, and he took a moment to take a look into the hall to make sure no one was looking, reached for his wand, and tapped it on his forehead. Hermione watched as he disappeared and became invisible to the world.

"I'll be seeing you soon, Miss Granger. I'm sure of it."

* * *

 **Author's note:** Hmm, things are looking a little drear over here… Any thoughts on Günter? Hate him? Like him? Suspicious of him? If anything I do like the way he seems to care for Draco, although he kind of ratted them out... It's complicated *sigh* lol.

Thanks for all the support as always!

-WP


	12. Loophole-Proof

Despite the position she was in Hermione had a good night's rest. Talking to Günter had restored some sort of hope in her that everything would be alright. Besides, no matter how dark and grim things were looking, she couldn't forget the things that Draco had told her. There was a loophole everywhere you looked and all Hermione had to do was look hard enough.

So, she slept peacefully, and in the morning Hermione had a crick in her neck. The uncomfortable pillow that came with the even more uncomfortable cot had fallen to the floor as she slept during the night and her neck had been in an awful position. She sat up, groaned, and placed a hand where the pain was. She knew the perfect spell to help ease the pain away, but there was no point in dwelling on it with her wand having been seized when she was arrested.

Sighing, Hermione set her hand back on the cot, tilted her head and squeezed her eyes tight. While in that position, she heard the locks on her cell door being tinkered with. It was with too much hope she thought it'd be her friends or even Günter paying her another visit, but she knew that it would be Christian. An Auror had informed her of his pending visit which was the only reason she had gotten up that morning at all.

Christian shut the door behind him after instructing two Aurors to make sure they stood proper guard. He faced Hermione with a confused look on his face and motioned to her posture.

"What's up with you?"

Hermione snapped her eyes open. "Do you really care?"

"Should I really answer that?" Christian crossed his arms and leaned against the wall of the cell. "If I answer yes, you won't believe me. If I answer no, you'll think I'm insincere."

"I already think you're insincere. Might as well answer no and stay in line with my perceptions of you."

Normally Christian would smile or chuckle at a snide comment coming from her, but today he did neither. He only stared at her, glanced at the cot, and then resettled his eyes back on her. "I'll be surprised to know if you got any sleep on that thing. The ones at Azkaban feel even harder. But if you did, congrats to you… It means that when the time comes for it you'll make the transition to Azkaban pretty well."

Though what Christian was insinuating was that this was an open and shut case and Hermione would be sentenced, that's not what she was concentrating on. She raised a brow at him and mimicked his posture by standing and folding her arms.

"How would you know what the beds at Azkaban are like? Aurors are only told how they are. We're not allowed to step foot in an Azkaban cell."

Christian smiled and nodded to her to continue. "Go on. You're a smart woman. Put the pieces together."

"…When were you a prisoner there?"

"When I was seventeen… 'Spent two years there. And while I was there I realized that I'd have much more fun arresting people rather than _being_ arrested. Three months after being released I was admitted into the Auror training program."

Hermione's ears perked up. She huffed and shook her head in disappointment. "You've got to be kidding. People with a criminal history aren't allowed to become Aurors."

"Depends on what you did."

"What did you do?"

"Not telling,"

Hermione rolled her eyes. Christian shrugged his shoulders and uncrossed his arms. He took the liberty to sit on Hermione's cot and seemed to deliberately avoid her gaze as if he knew how many imaginary daggers she was throwing at him.

"We've digressed." Christian said calmly. "I came here to talk about you, not me. I know that Ron came to see you yesterday. And I'm sure that he told you, though he wasn't supposed to, that we're not making you a deal and that we spoke to Günter."

Hermione didn't answer. She didn't want to get Ron into trouble and Christian could see that. He cleared his throat and continued. "Günter said and did something that's helped us quite a bit."

"What did he say?"

"He told us that you were Mr. Vaughn's escort at the party where I first met you."

Hermione scoffed. "That's your incriminating evidence? Come on, Christian, that can't do anything to me."

"No, but the fact that Günter told us outright that Vaughn is Malfoy, should do the trick."

"And the evidence to back that up is what?"

Christian's growing smirk turned into a smile with a show of white teeth. He got up from the cot and faced her. "What do you know of Imprinting, Hermione?"

Hermione tried not to let her face fall. She kept telling herself to hold her confidence and to do that she took a deep breath and continued to hold his gaze. "It's a fingerprint… A magical fingerprint that a wizard leaves on everything that he touches."

"And why is it frowned upon for usage in an investigation?"

"The amount of times something or someone is touched by a person is practically uncountable. You never know whose Imprint you're getting."

"Unless, of course, you have a sample of the Imprint you want." Christian was grinning like a madman and Hermione, though she tried, couldn't help her face from growing pale. "Malfoy was careful. He made sure never to touch Günter. But he slipped once, and Günter gave us each article of clothing he was wearing all the times that he saw Malfoy. We're doing the Imprint Test now. It'll show, Hermione. And then you'll have some questions to answer."

* * *

Hermione hated to say it, but Christian had won. When the Imprint Test was done, the evidence would be clear. No matter the disguise, an Imprint was an Imprint. It couldn't be changed. Normally Aurors didn't have samples to match with, but with Draco being such an elusive catch, Harry had ordered that an Imprint be taken of him and put on record.

Laughing, Hermione shook her head. "Who'd think Harry would end up giving everything they needed to send me to Azkaban."

If he had known what the future held, Harry wouldn't have done it. Hermione knew that at this moment he had his eyes on this case and knew the steps that Christian had taken to get his evidence against her. Did Harry believe that Hermione had let Draco go? If no, did he believe that she had no idea that the man she had "met" on her sabbatical was really Draco?

Hermione would find out soon. Some hours had passed and her cell door was being opened. She looked up to find Harry's and Ron's disappointed eyes staring at her. That meant that the test was done. But there was a loophole though. No, Hermione didn't want to lie to her friends any more than she already had, but she didn't want to lose their friendship either. She would plead with them. She would tell them that she had no idea that it was really Draco.

"You believe me, don't you?" Hermione asked softly. Harry's eyes were casted towards the ground. Ron was staring at the cell door. Silence ensued until he turned around and placed his eyes on her.

"Are you sleeping with him?" Ron asked suddenly, and Hermione's eyes widened in shock.

"What? No! Of course not. How could you ask me that?"

Ron shrugged his shoulders in irritation. "Dunno, figured that if you did one impossible thing, you might as well be doing the other." He sighed and sucked his teeth. "They did an Imprint Test on you too, Hermione."

"What? With what sample..? They have _nothing_ to match that with."

"Christian got it from Günter." Ron informed her. "You touched his clothes when he came down here to talk to you last night."

Hermione was outraged, but most of all shocked. And here she was thinking that Günter was someone that she could trust. Obviously she was wrong and turned an angry face towards Ron and Harry. "How could you let them do that? How could you let Christian trick me like that!"

"We didn't know." Harry said quickly. "We only found out today-"

"And with that Imprint they found Malfoy's on you; some of it dated back to when you were supposed to be on your sabbatical in Australia."

"I told you that I met him while I was travelling-"

"You told Christian that you met him in Italy. The Imprint doesn't go back that far and all that does it make you out to be a liar and all the more possible that you let him go."

Hermione looked away from Ron. She couldn't look at him. She couldn't look at either one of them.

"What I can't understand, is why you'd put your whole career on the line for Malfoy!" Harry said exasperatedly. Hermione frowned and played with her fingers out of extreme guilt. "Answer me, 'Mione. Why would you do it?"

"There's no proof that I let Malfoy go." Hermione said firmly. "And there's still no proof that I knew who Darius really was. But I can answer your question either way. If I had done it…it'd be because I had to. You have no idea what it was like in there." Harry's and Ron's gazes softened considerably at that for they knew what the "there" was. Hermione sighed and continued. "You watched it, yes, but you don't know what I felt. After a while there wasn't such a thing as Auror and prisoner. There were no rules there-"

"There're rules _here_ , Hermione!"

"But that's not what I felt when I got back, Ron! I was lenient on Thorn, fine, but when I looked at Malfoy…to go through what we did and to go back to Azkaban didn't seem fair."

Without meaning to she had done it. Hermione had subtly admitted that she had let Draco escape all those months ago. Harry's and Ron's faces at how it had subconsciously come out were looks of regret as was hers.

"That wasn't your call." Harry said grimly. "You know that. And now you have to tell us where he is."

Hermione moved her hands up and down her arms. She knew this question was coming, and she knew that they wouldn't like the answer. "I don't know."

Ron stared at her enraged. " _You don't know?_ You've been to the bastard's house dozens of times!"

"But he's never told me where he lives." Hermione found herself smiling, basking in the glory of how smart Draco had been. But of course that wouldn't stop Harry from asking her how she had been getting there. She lost her smile then and became hesitant.

"Tell him, Hermione."

She looked up to a new voice and saw Christian. Sighing, she knew that he would know how she had been getting there and back. There was no point in hiding anymore and decided to come clean right then.

"Malfoy always sent me a portkey."

Christian nodded and then smiled. "That a girl,"

* * *

That same night Hermione was bound by the hands, and with two Aurors at her side and Christian in the front she was taken straight to Azkaban. In the holding cells she was charged with many things. The failure to comply in an investigation and withholding evidence was still upheld. She was newly charged with harboring a fugitive and lying to an investigator. Out of those four charges Hermione knew which ones would stick, which would not, and which would be difficult to prove.

The one that would stick and carry the longest sentence, harboring a fugitive, Hermione thought on a lot. She couldn't imagine living out weeks, months, _years_ feeling how she felt right then: cold and alone. The cot felt worse than the one in the Ministry holding cells and the sheet that was given to wrap around her body did nothing as far as warmth went.

All Hermione wanted now was for the trial to start. At least then she could get out of there; even if it was just for an hour. But that wouldn't happen for a while. Yes, Aurors had proof that Darius Vaughn really was Draco Malfoy, but they had no way to find him. The only way to get to Draco's condo would be by portkey.

"And it won't come for a month." Hermione whispered to herself, watching breath clouds escape from her mouth. And despite all the noise about her arrest the portkey would still come for her.

There had been no photos taken when Hermione was brought from the Ministry to Azkaban. And the first set of photographs shot of her when she had been first arrested and brought to the Ministry had never gone public. Christian had made sure of that as well as making everyone in the Ministry to sign a magical oath to keep them from talking about it. He wanted to make sure that Draco didn't get alerted to the situation in any way.

 _And he won't…_ Hermione thought bitterly and closed her eyes as though that would somehow keep out the cold.

* * *

 **Author's note:** Okay, so things just keep on getting worse... Who'd think we'd ever see our golden girl behind Azkaban bars? And speaking of Azkaban, we have Christian's nonchalant confession. And that's all I'm going to say about that :)

On another note, I'm going to be posting a new story called "Destined" either Tuesday or Wednesday. All I can say about the plot without giving the whole story away is that Draco's family history comes back to torment the heck out of him. Feel free to check it out when it's up!

-WP


	13. A Failed Clever Attempt

Hermione had grown a new appreciation for every prisoner within Azkaban. The place was an utter hell and she had only been there for a month while others had been there for years. How did she cope with it? In stages.

The first week she was huddled up with the piece of cotton the Ministry called a blanket in the corner of her cell. The floor had felt more comfortable than the cot and that's what she used for a bed. The wall was her pillow and Hermione spent endless hours just staring out ahead of her, slowly breathing in and out and trying to figure out what shape her breath clouds looked like. Dementors occasionally passed by her cell, and more times than she could count she would pass out from their presence and their draining of her.

The second week Hermione had gotten used to the cold. She took up pacing and walked up and down her cell from the morning she woke up until it was time for bed. Her skin had become clammy and her hair lacked life. Anyone would think she was at death's door, and by looking around at where she was, she concluded that that sentiment was right.

By the third week, she had stopped feeling sorry for herself. In a week's time contact with the outside world would be at her feet again, and Hermione refused to let them see her in this state. To rejuvenate her drying skin she made herself sweat by sometimes jogging in place and, oddly enough, crying, to get the tears splashing on her skin. Her hair, Hermione thought was a lost cause until a huge rainstorm came her way. With the repositioning of the bed, she stood on top of it, trying to get her hair as far out of the tiny window as possible. Half of it got wet, and it was good enough for her. She dried it with her shirt and kept it pulled back in a bun so it wouldn't become any more damaged than it already was.

The fourth week left Hermione feeling in higher spirits than when she had first come in. The Dementors still got to her from time to time, but once they were gone she replenished her unhappiness with thoughts of Draco and times spent at his condo. It was better than chocolate.

With a smile she peered out of the window which gave nothing short of a view of an endless sea. As she was gazing at the watery scene, Hermione unexpectedly felt warm.

"Hmm, that's strange. Azkaban never gets warm unless-"

"An Auror comes."

Hermione turned around to Harry's voice and smiled. He had his wand out, his Patronus shining bright around him and Ron who was smiling just as broadly as she.

"You look good for someone who's been stuck in here for a month." Ron complimented, and Hermione placed a hand through the cell bar so she could touch the side of his face in a friendly gesture.

"I take it a portkey came, then?"

Harry nodded. He placed his finger where in the muggle world a key would go, and the cell doors moved away from each other. "We've come to take you to the holding cells."

"I'm surprised they let you two come to get me." Hermione placed her hands out to them so Ron could bind them. "You'd think they'd be wary of you in case you decided to break me out."

"I think they underestimate how much we love you." Harry smiled. He led her from the cell, closed and locked it back, and he and Ron walked with her down several flights of stairs and out of Azkaban. On the way down Ron informed her of what was happening. And though Hermione was all smiles when she had first seen them, by the time they were getting onto the boat to get from Azkaban to shore, she was frowning, and desperately wishing to be back in her cell with the Dementors.

* * *

 _He's going to get caught! He's going to get caught!_ Hermione kept repeating in her mind. In just a few minutes an Auror would be coming for a bit of her hair to put in a Polyjuice Potion. The plan was simple. A Hermione imposter would go to Draco and when the opportune moment came to subdue him, he would be, and would be brought back to Azkaban with bound hands.

"And there's nothing I can do about it." Hermione muttered angrily to herself. There was no way to slip a note. No message could get through to him no matter what unless she used her one Owl that had been offered to her when she was first arrested, but had never taken, and had always been on hold. But this problem had arisen before –the sending of owls to him. Technically Darius Vaughn didn't exist, and neither did Draco Malfoy anymore. Things were just screwed completely, and she began thinking how things at Draco's condo would play out.

 _She'll probably strip…_ Hermione teased. Just about everyone in the Ministry was convinced that she and Draco were having some sort of sexual affair with each other. Kissing, which was all they had ever done and a bit above that, didn't fall into that category. The only exposed flesh of her he had ever seen were her arms, neck, and legs, up to the point where her oversized t-shirt she used as a nightgown began to cover. She could argue that he had seen more, but there was only so much that someone could see in the dark.

And then that's when Hermione began to think. She recalled one of the nights when they were up late and they were both laying on her bed and talking. Draco had been tracing his fingers up and down her arm, remarking how it wasn't "tainted."

"Clean of any imperfections," was what Draco had said, and Hermione knew what to do. She hastily rolled up the sleeve of her left arm. She stared at the jagged cell wall and leaned up against it. With a hard grit on her teeth she pressed her arm onto the wall, _hard_ , and then moved it in critical directions against it, wincing terribly at the pain she was inflicting on herself. She could feel her skin opening up in deep cuts and could see a bit of blood running down her arm.

Hermione pulled herself away from the wall and stared at the necessary damage she had done. It definitely couldn't be missed, and as she heard footsteps coming to her cell, she wiped the blood away that was smeared on her arm with her shirt, and rolled back down the sleeve.

"Granger," Hermione's cell door had opened and an Auror whose name Hermione knew was Amelia called to her. "I need some of your hair."

Hermione nodded and plucked out a few strands. She handed them to Amelia who immediately put them in a Polyjuice concoction. She drank it right in front of her and Hermione watched as Amelia became her twin right before her eyes.

"Risking yourself for him was a stupid idea." Amelia said in a pretty good imitation of Hermione's voice. "Malfoy will be back here within the hour."

Amelia walked off and Hermione stared after her. When she was gone Hermione's badly damaged arm was beginning to throb. Amelia's wouldn't hurt, no. The feeling of pain or anything of the sort never got transferred with the use of a Polyjuice Potion. But the sign would be there, and Draco would be sure to see it. All Hermione hoped was that Draco would think of that night and what he said when he saw her.

* * *

Draco had been checking the beach on and off for almost an hour now. It had never taken Hermione so long to get to him, but then again, things were rather tight these days with Christian lurking about. Sighing, he opened his door once more to head back onto the beach. The sun had already gone down and he frowned. He liked watching sunsets with her.

Draco turned to his left and walked along the shore. He made it to the very end before it started to curve around and then he went back where he came. As his condo came into view and he went pass it, a whooshing sound hit his ears. Draco turned around and a sigh of relief escaped his lips as well as a smile at seeing Hermione standing ankle-deep in the sea. He watched as she took a moment to look at her surroundings before settling her eyes on him.

"There you are." Hermione smiled, and Draco gave one as well, walking over to her and taking her into his arms.

"What took you so long? I was getting worried about you." He gave her a quick and gentle kiss. She returned it, a chaste one, and gave an apologetic shrug.

"It was a bit hard trying to get away. You can imagine what it's like back home."

"Without a doubt… But no matter, it's time for a bit of a distraction." Draco let go of her and led the way from the beach and back to the condo.

When they made it to Hermione's bedroom, (which had been decided it was his as well whenever she was there) he left her side to head over to the large walk-in closet. He came back out holding a dress and laid it on the bed; surprised to see that she was laying on it had stripped herself of her button up shirt wearing only a tank top with a low neckline. It wasn't _bad_ or anything, but she usually stayed more covered than how she was at the moment.

Draco shook his head at it and motioned to the dress. "Don't look at me like I'm crazy or anything, but we're going out, so of course I got this for you." He said with a smile. Hermione sat up, her face seeming to look like it was in a state of alarm, but she calmed down, and stared at the dress.

"We're going out?"

"I said not to look at me like I'm crazy." He laughed. "It's not to a party or anything. It's something private, just for us. What happened to your arm?"

Hermione looked down at her arm and shrugged at it. Her arm was awfully bruised and terribly red to boot. She looked back up at Draco who was staring at her with concern, but she waved him off. "It doesn't hurt no matter how bad it looks. Now, where exactly are we going tonight?"

"It's a secret." He answered her. Draco tore his eyes away from her arm and then back at the dress. "Get dressed and I'll come back after I've finished."

Hermione nodded and Draco left the room, closing the bedroom door behind him and then gently leaning up against it. He didn't know what it was, but something was off about her that was driving him mad. It was her arm, but why should it bother him so much? Sighing, Draco shrugged it off, heading into his room to change into a casual suit and make sure that his hair was styled perfectly –to suit Darius' look, not necessarily his own. When he was done, Draco went back to Hermione's room, knocking on the door and only going in when she said it was okay.

He smiled. She was standing in front of her mirror and smoothing out her dress that he knew would've looked great on her. Her hair was fixed, make-up applied, though a little more than he was used to seeing her wear, and jewelry adorned. Hermione turned to him and grinned, gesturing to herself with her hands.

"What do you think?"

Draco had every type of praise ready on lips, but he couldn't bring himself to say them. His eyes had immediately gravitated to her arm and he bit down on his tongue, hard. That _one_ aspect of her was setting him off insanely and it was mostly how awful it looked; boldly offsetting what gave her beauty. And as Draco thought this, he noticed how the damage on Hermione's arm wasn't random. It had a proper shape and form as though it was thoughtfully carved. And if he wasn't mistaken, it almost looked like the same sign Hermione had made to him that night at Christian's party…

… _I'm in love with a smart as hell woman._ Draco thought to himself. He didn't have time to marvel at the fact that he had just used the "L-word" but rather reminisced on the brilliance of everything. And even if Hermione hadn't bruised her arm with their secret signal for danger, Draco would've figured it out perfectly. The oddity of the faux-Hermione in front of him had been throwing him off the moment she had gotten there: how much make-up she wore and her obvious need to show skin when the real Hermione knew he thought she looked fine in just a t-shirt. They were little things yes, but big clues to someone who adored her. But what topped it off was the damage done to her arm. Hermione's beauty was nothing short of the fact that her skin was flawless. He was quite infatuated with it.

Now knowing the danger he was in, Draco's heart rate sped up considerably, but he kept smiling just to keep up appearances. "You look great." Draco said with a faux-smile. "We'll go in a minute. I just need to get my cufflinks."

The false Hermione nodded and watched him leave. Draco hurried his steps back to his room as he stripped himself of his jacket. After shutting the door after himself he locked it and casted a Muffilato Charm on the room in case she had followed him and was listening to what he was doing inside. He went over to his wardrobe and tapped on three specific places on it with his wand. The wardrobe disappeared, slowly falling into the ground in front of him. What was left was a door which held stairs that led to a secret underground room. Draco went down it; closing the door and hearing the wardrobe go back to where it was.

Inside the secret room was everything: clothes, food, spare wands, potions, and most importantly, money. Millions of galleons worth placed in convenient little pouches shrunken to an easy portable style.

Draco wasted no time. He slung two rucksacks over each shoulder, money equally spread between the two of them as well as necessary potions, his wands, and clothes. Once he was sure that he had everything he needed, he took one last look around him, and glanced upwards, reminiscing on the condo that he would be leaving behind.

"Damn, I liked it here." He murmured and left via Floo just as he heard the faux-Hermione blast his bedroom door open.

* * *

 **Author's note:** Draco's safe! That's all we care about right? Well, that and Hermione out of Azkaban, too. Just a matter of time to figure out how that plays out :)

-WP


	14. Legal Representation

Hermione paced her cell impatiently and bit her nails to the nub. Her imposter had gone to Draco a little over an hour ago and there was still no word on how things turned out. Good news, bad news, she wanted to hear it whatever it was. Not knowing was slowly driving her mad and if she didn't find out anything soon, she'd run out of nail to bite and start in on her fingers.

"Open that door! _NOW!_ "

Hermione turned to the shouts hurtling towards her door. The door was wrenched open and Christian flung himself inside with Harry and Ron at his heels looking for fearful for Hermione's safety.

"What the hell did you do?!" Christian shouted at her. Hermione found his hands gripping her shoulders tightly and shaking her roughly. "Out with it! How did he know?!"

"Christian get off of her!" Harry yelled. He and Ron grabbed Christian by the arms and pulled him off of Hermione. She was in shock at his display and rubbed her shoulders, now sore from how hard he was holding her.

"What's the matter with you?!" Hermione stared at Christian who yanked himself out of Harry and Ron's grip. He held onto clumps of his hair and nearly yanked them out. With a hard look at Hermione he gritted his teeth and asked her again.

"What did you do?"

Hermione stared at him, glanced at Harry and Ron, and shrugged her shoulders. "Depends on what you're talking about."

"You know damn well what I'm talking about!" Christian snapped. "Malfoy… What the hell did you do to tip him off so that he could get away?"

Hermione couldn't stop herself from smiling. It was probably driving a knife and several other sharp objects through Christian's heart, but she didn't care. All she could feel at that moment was pure joy. "He got away?"

"' _He got away?'"_ Christian mimicked. He snarled and pounded his hand against the jagged cell wall. " _Yes_ , he got away! And it was _you_ who warned him."

"How could she?" Ron reasoned with him. "She didn't go anywhere. She didn't Owl anyone-"

"So what..? Hermione's smart. She got a message to him somehow, I know she did."

"Even if she did, you could never prove it." Harry argued, and Christian turned on him fast. He was inches from his face and staring him down. Harry, however, stared him back down just as hard.

"Maybe it was you, Potter." Christian spat. He glanced at Ron and huffed. "Or maybe you, Weasley… The both of you escorted her from Azkaban. Maybe she told you what to do and you did it. Everyone at the Ministry knows what you'd do for her."

"Stop it!" Hermione demanded. All three men turned in her direction and she clenched her fists. "I did nothing and neither did they. Malfoy got out because he's a smart man. And you know what? I'm glad that he did."

Christian clenched his jaws and sucked his teeth. "No matter... I have you and that's a start. Get yourself a lawyer."

* * *

Harry and Ron told Hermione that trials would start in about a month's time. They brought to her a list of lawyers for her to choose from, but she denied them all. She wanted no lawyer, and no matter how hard-pressed her friends were, they couldn't get her to change her mind.

After the long day she had Hermione was lying face-up on her cot. She had stopped complaining about how awful it was by now. Now she was just thinking and reflecting about all that had happened in just a short space of time. It was tiring, truly, and saddening as well, but knowing that Draco was safe brought some sort of comfort to her. It also made her laugh as well, watching the other Aurors, especially Christian, fumble about trying to figure out how Draco had known about Amelia, and how he was able to suddenly take off and disappear without a trace once again.

"Granger,"

Hermione craned her neck and then swung her legs off of the cot to the voice.

"You got a visitor." The guard said, and Hermione nodded. She stood and placed her hands one on top of the other. With his wand, the guard allowed binds to wrap around her wrists, rather loosely she might add, and then smiled, seeing that the guard was smiling too.

"Thanks Bernard," She whispered and Bernard gave a curt nod as he led her out of her cell. They took a long walk to where the visiting rooms were and on the way there Hermione couldn't help but feel happy that she wasn't shivering violently.

Unlike in Azkaban, there were no Dementors. No, being a prisoner hadn't changed her views of them. She had never liked Dementors in the first place. The Hogwarts days were filled with being tormented by them, so why _would_ she like them or even think of them as an acceptable form of punishment?

The binds were taken off of Hermione's hands once inside the visitor's room and she took a seat as Bernard left her alone. A minute or so later the door to the room opened, and instead of seeing Harry or Ron like she thought she would, she was seeing a man she had never seen before. He was tall, had black hair, light blue eyes and had dimples in his cheeks. He closed the door after him and smiled broadly as he placed a hand at the rim of his pockets.

"My name's Samuel Delaney." He greeted. "I'm your lawyer."

Hermione huffed and immediately crossed her arms. "I told the Ministry that I didn't want a lawyer."

"I know, and I pressed that you should."

Samuel sat down on the seat directly across from her and pulled a small parcel out of his pocket. He opened it for her to see and picked up one of the only two biscuits in his hand and took a bite out of it.

"Have the other."

"Some lawyer you are." Hermione scoffed. "Ministry protocol says that I can't take, nor can you _give_ , anything from persons not authorized to work within this building."

Samuel laughed as he took another bite and then smiled. "An Azkaban prisoner and still quoting Ministry protocols..? If it makes you feel any better, Aurors Potter and Weasley allowed me to do this. I'm quite sure that the food you've been getting tastes like nothing."

Hermione snapped her eyes to his in a second. _The food here tastes like nothing…_ She repeated in her mind and thought back to where she had heard those words before and from whom. She looked up at Samuel once again and found him nodding to the other sole biscuit left. She took it then, and took a large bite out of it. It wasn't particularly delicious, but after a second or so she knew that the point of the biscuit wasn't for taste. The world around her, or in particular the _sounds_ around her, became dull. She couldn't hear the air circulating in the vents, nor her foot tapping, nor the sound of Samuel's chair as he edged forward some. She suddenly began to smile.

"On second thought, maybe I do need you."

 _More like you want me…_ Hermione heard Samuel's voice in her mind and all she wanted to do was smile some more, to throw her arms around him, and be glad that he was okay. But of course she knew better and she restrained herself, as well as turning her already broad smile into a complacent one.

"Your case won't be easy, Miss Granger." _Are you glad that you took the biscuit now?_

"I know. Nor do I expect it to be." _Yes, very. I can't believe you're here. You're insane._

"I'll be coming to see you once a week to gather information for your case. So I've been told there's to be a preliminary hearing in three weeks. That's three sessions." _You act as though you didn't already know._ He laughed in his mind and continued. _Engraving our signal on your arm before handing over a bit of your hair was impressive._

"The odds are that I'll go to Azkaban for at the very least ten years for harboring a fugitive. How exactly do you expect to get around that?" _The fact that we're doing this little mind game and that you have another alias is what's impressive._

"With your history with Aurors Potter and Weasley and all that you've done we might be able to shave off _some_ amount of time." _The more crooked you are, the more aliases you have._

"Yes, I guess so. It happens all the time in court. Playing on the hearts of the crowd in order to get sympathy," _In that case, how many aliases_ _ **do**_ _you have?_

"So, with that said, and as I don't know you personally, I want to get a read on you now and some truths so we don't waste any time with the sessions we're going to have." _One more after this… Truth be told I didn't think that I'd run through them so quickly._

"That means a round of questions then. Go for it." _And you'd still be Darius Vaughn if it wasn't for bloody Christian. Or me, for that matter…_

"Alright, did you or did you not let Draco Malfoy escape?" _Oh no, not this again._

"Yes, I let him escape." _Yes, this again. And with you here you'll probably get caught again and move on to alias number three._

"Why did you let him go?" _Don't ever think that any of this is your fault. I'm the one who befriended Christian when I knew he was an Auror. I'm not leaving you here, Granger._

"Because I had to… It seemed right at the time." _You're not a real lawyer for bloody sake. Even if you were, there's no chance for me to get off. You're a fugitive. I harbored you. I told a series of lies. It's as simple and clear as that._

"Does it still seem right?" _You're forgetting what I taught you… What did they arrest you for?_

"Yes, it does." _Failure to comply during an investigation and withholding evidence, lying to an investigator, and harboring a fugitive…_

 _Damn. Christian charged all of that while arresting you?_

 _Yes. Still have hope for those loopholes?_

Draco gave no answer. He sat still for a moment before allowing a smile to come to his lips and nodding. _Yes, I do. Tell me something; have they done a formal interrogation with you yet?_

 _No, not yet. More than likely that'll take place sometime this afternoon._

 _Then how did they find out,_ _ **indefinitely**_ _, that you harbored me?_

 _I let it slip in my cell while I was talking to Harry and Ron. Why? What does that have to do with anything?_

 _Because it wasn't during an interrogation… It's inadmissible evidence and can't be used. And now I ask that you do one thing, Granger. When you do get brought in for questioning, never admit that you knew who I really was. If you follow that one rule, all they can get you for is not complying and lying to an investigator, which I can peg as you firmly believing that Christian was wrong and not going along with his stupid theory._

Draco sat back in chair, and Hermione did the same, smiling wholeheartedly on the inside and feeling ten times better than she had ever felt in her life. There was a knock on the visitor's door, signaling that time was up. Neither wanted to leave the other, but it wasn't like they could stay in that room forever.

Hermione sighed, and then gave a soft nod of approval and satisfaction. "Well then, thank you Mr. Delaney. I'm glad that you'll be representing me."

"Same on this end, Miss Granger." Draco said as he stood. The door to the visitor's room opened and he made his way towards it. But before leaving, he gave one last look at Hermione, smiled, and sent her one last thought.

 _And you said I wasn't a lawyer._

* * *

 **Author's note:** Draco to the rescue! That's all I can say. Don't you just love him? Also, I'm sure Christian throwing a fit made you pretty happy :)

Thanks for reading everyone!

-WP


	15. Prosecution

Draco amazed Hermione in ways she couldn't imagine nor understand. It wasn't just the fact that he was proving to be more than a competent lawyer, but because he had come back for her. He had been found out, forced to flee, and instead of using his second alias to live a peaceful life, he jumped into a fire pit. He became her lawyer in one of the most public cases there'd ever been since Death Eaters were on trial. There were so many opportunities to get caught and Hermione could see them all. She knew that Draco could see them too, but he was pushing them all aside… _for_ _her_.

Hermione was more than grateful. And that's why when Christian came to interrogate her that afternoon she made sure to do the session justice and to not let Draco down.

"Feeling comfortable?" Christian asked her. Hermione rolled her eyes. She raised her hands so that he could properly see them as they were bound by the wrist. He smiled and held back a laugh. "Oh yes, that's right."

"You know, you're not supposed to taunt arrestees like this."

"I haven't turned on the recorder yet. No one will know."

Hermione huffed. She watched as Christian slipped his hand to the edge of the table and flipped a switch. That meant that the room was now recording all sounds and movements made, and from here on out every word mattered.

"On August 15th to the 16th of last year you were kidnapped from your home to be involved in the murderous game show Aurors versus the Condemned with Draco Malfoy. Explain your experience there with Mr. Malfoy."

It was cruel. There was no need to go that far. Her "experience" there had nothing to do with what was going on now, and Hermione was sure that Christian knew it. Sighing, she averted her eyes from him for a moment, and then looked back.

"…It was awful. It was a bloody nightmare where, by the end of it, my life was seconds away from me because of that stupid bracelet-"

"That's not entirely true." Christian interrupted. "I do believe that if you had killed Mr. Malfoy as you had killed the three other convicts, your life would've been spared."

"Like hell it would've. They would've kept me there for another round of torture. I'd be better off dead in that case. What exactly are you getting at, Christian-?"

"Auror Matthews to you,"

Hermione scowled. "What are you getting at, _Auror Matthews_?"

"What I'm saying is that I find it odd, that with all the history between you and Malfoy, you didn't take the opportunity to finish him off."

"I'm not a killer!"

"Sure fooled me and plenty of others." Christian shrugged his shoulders. "And okay, maybe you didn't want to kill him, but something is still amiss. Auror Potter comes to save you and you don't send Malfoy to Azkaban? Make sense of that for me."

"…You think that during all that time I had been planning to let Malfoy go?" Hermione was in shock. Though however surprised she was at Christian's insinuation, she unexpectedly laughed. She shook her head all the while giggling and continued speaking. "No. I was looking out for my life and he was doing the same for his. As my statement said from _months ago_ I brought him along to the Ministry because it was in utter chaos. We needed all the help we could get, Azkaban prisoner or not. And if your next question has to do with that stupid show, I'm done talking."

Silenced ensued for a moment all the while they both engaged in a staring contest. After several seconds Christian sighed and moved on with questioning. "Why did you let Malfoy go?"

Hermione broke eye contact with him and stared at her lap. "I didn't let him go." She looked back up so the cameras wouldn't pick up on guilt and she shook her head. "Malfoy escaped. I had nothing to do with it."

"Humph," Christian clenched his jaw and repositioned himself in his seat. "Even in your predicament you're still a boldfaced liar. You admitted it. I heard you."

"What exactly did you hear?" Hermione challenged. "Tell me."

"I was on my way to your cell. I heard you talking about Malfoy and how unfair it was to send him back to Azkaban after what you'd been through."

"And yet you didn't _explicitly_ hear me say that I let Malfoy go, did you? And even if you did, I would've said it in my cell, _not_ in an interrogation room. So I'll say this: I didn't say it then, and I definitely won't say it now."

Hermione could see that Christian knew what she was getting at. His face had grown stern and unpleasant, while Hermione's was quite happy. He narrowed his eyes and sucked his teeth loudly. "You think you're so smart, don't you?"

"No." Hermione smiled. "I think I'm an Auror, same as you. Next question, please."

* * *

By the end of the interrogation, Christian was furious while Hermione was pleased. He had been waiting for her to admit to any if not all of his assumptions so that he could walk into court and say "this is what she said," but nothing definitive was going his way. As he rolled off his last question and Hermione answered it, Christian roughly closed his file shut, got up, and left the interrogation room. Hermione sat there alone for a few minutes, wondering what the consequences of her actions would be.

 _Less chance of a conviction for one…_ Hermione thought happily, but even with that there was still a churning in her stomach. Christian was a fighter. If he didn't get what he wanted from her then, he would use a different means and those means worried her. Christian once said that he had evidence of the things that she did. And if it was strong enough, as Hermione had no doubt that it was, it could certainly make up for the lack of words she had just spent not saying.

Sighing, Hermione stood at the sound of the door opening and allowed the guard to take her by the arm and lead her back to her cell. Sitting on her cot was Harry who was quietly gazing at nothing and had his hands cupped. When he saw Hermione, however, he smiled and made space on the cot for her to sit down.

"You're driving Christian up the wall, you know."

"Did he tell you that?"

Harry shook his head and then chuckled. "I can tell. I was watching the interrogation. You really got to him."

"Humph, it's pathetic really. He's just mad because I know the rules just as well as he does." Hermione sighed. She rubbed her arms up and down and stared at Harry anxiously. "Well…you were watching. What do you think?"

"What do I think? About what?"

"My chances,"

Harry looked like he didn't want to answer. His face turned a light shade of pink and he cleared his throat twice. "I don't know what Christian is bringing to the court next month. But, from what I saw today, the prosecution will have a hard time proving anything."

Hermione nodded and kept her smile on the inside so as not to jinx anything. In her heart, she felt that everything would be okay. Harry said things would be fine, and during the lawyer sessions with Draco his actions and his words said that everything would turn out alright too. There were two more interrogations with Christian, but just like the first one, she played dumb as well as smart. She feigned ignorance, she was the master of faux-shock, and continued to annoy Christian in a thousand ways. So when that dreadfully hot day in August came, though Hermione was still nervous, she was less nervous than she should've been.

Reporters picked up on that immediately. Hermione could hear them and the words that they were using to describe her were hurtful: cold, remorseless, and expressionless. She felt as though she was being picked on and the further she walked down the aisle of the large courtroom, the smaller she felt. The stands were filled with tons of people who had been excited about the news of a member of the "Golden Trio" to be prosecuted. When Hermione took a glance up at them, she tore her eyes away quickly, their stares baring a strong sense of disapproval.

"You okay?" Draco asked. He was sitting in his designated seat in the front of the courtroom and Hermione sat down next to him. She sighed and kept her gaze at the table.

"I've never felt so much hatred before." Hermione frowned. "They don't even know all the facts and already they've condemned me."

"They can't be blamed for ignorance. And besides," Draco smiled and, as discretely as he could, took hold of her hand and squeezed it. "Not everyone in this room hates you."

Hermione smiled and nodded. She set her hands on the table, a good distance apart, and enjoyed seeing them free from binds. She had been allowed to go to the courtroom without them as well as dressed in regular clothing. Harry was to thank for that. How he had managed to persuade the Ministry that clothing from her own home were fine, she didn't know, but then again he could be quite convincing when he wanted to be.

Sighing, Hermione stared up at the Wizard Council and at the Minister of Magic's seat. Out of near a hundred people he was the only one who was missing. Christian had made sure to get to the courtroom early and he was sitting in his respective seat behind the prosecutor. Though Hermione thought he should look happy, Christian looked annoyed, and every now and again he was staring into the stands and cautiously looking about him.

"Why do you think he looks like that?" Hermione asked Draco. He looked past her and took a quick glance at Christian. Draco huffed and then sat properly in his seat.

"He's probably looking for me. He knows that I know my cover is blown and the news of your trial should've hit my ears by now. He thinks I'll come to save you."

"If that's what Christian's thinking, then he's right."

Draco nodded. "Yes, he's right. But not about how I'll do it."

Some seconds later everyone was told to stand. Minster Stevenson had finally entered the courtroom and the trial would now begin.

"You may be seated." Minister Stevenson announced. "Today we're here for the trial of Hermione Jean Granger who has been convicted for failure to comply during an investigation and withholding evidence, lying to an investigator, and finally, harboring a fugitive. Prosecution, call your first witness."

"I call Hermione Granger to the stand."

Hermione was stunned, as was Draco. He immediately stood up and protested. "Minister, that's completely unethical. The defendant _never_ gets called first."

"May I point out Minister that this is a delicate case." The prosecutor answered. "There are so many odds and ends to this case that say, Auror Matthews were to be on the stand first, and Miss Granger hears his testimony, she could easily put in a lie wherever seen fit to cover her tracks if there are any to be covered-"

"Bull!" Draco shot back. "What the prosecutor is proposing isn't substantial-!"

" _Language_ , Mr. Delaney." Minster Stevenson warned. "I'll let it pass. Continue, Mr. Tawny."

Mr. Tawny smiled and motioned to the witness chair in the middle of the room as he turned to Hermione. "If you please, Miss Granger..?"

Hermione paused for a second, but nonetheless rose from her seat. This wasn't how it was supposed to go. The witnesses for the prosecution _always_ went first. It was how she and Draco had planned it. This way they would know what Christian was using as ammo and find a way to work around it. She supposed that Christian must've thought Draco had rubbed off on her somehow and made sure that she got called to the stand first. The all-too-happy smile on his face was proof of that. But no matter, another plan had been worked out and Hermione sat on the stand thinking of everything that Draco had told her to say when or if the questions were asked: _tell tales that can't be proven to be true or false._

After taking her oath, Hermione took slow and steady breaths as she watched Mr. Tawny pace in front of her for a few seconds. He suddenly stopped, glanced over at Christian, and began his questioning.

"Let's dive right into this and call Draco Malfoy by his faux name, shall we? Would you consider yourself and Darius Vaughn good friends?"

"Yes, I would."

"As good of friends as say…you and Harry Potter and Ron Weasley..?"

"To a certain degree, sure,"

"If that's the case then why were Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley ignorant of your good friend?"

Hermione sighed. Draco said that they might bring this up, and quite frankly she knew they would, but she stood her ground. "My friendship with Darius before all of this mess had only been going on for a short amount of time. I didn't bother mentioning it to Harry and Ron."

"But you'd been seen with Darius Vaughn countless of times, adding up the dates correctly would equal about three to four months."

"That being single visits per month and staying for at the most three days," Hermione informed him. "And I know what you're going to ask. Did Harry and Ron ever question my abrupt leaving and did I lie to them? Yes and no. I told them that I was visiting a friend."

"Did you tell them it was a man?"

"Yes, I did. And they joked that I was in love."

"Were you?"

Hermione could feel her cheeks redden slightly. Her eyes gently drifted over to Draco who, not only was preparing the questions he would bring to her next, but was sincerely interested in the answer.

"I liked him."

"And how did you meet him?"

"I was on a sabbatical for eight months. I met him while travelling."

The prosecutor nodded, went over to his desk, and picked up a piece of parchment and went back over to his previous spot. "And according to this report by Auror Christian Matthews, you'd met Darius Vaughn in Italy and that it was in Australia, during the last month of your sabbatical in August that you went to see him. But according to an Imprint Test done on you, it was shown that you couldn't have met him earlier than that same August that you'd seen him. Why, Miss Granger, would you lie?"

"Auror Matthews was a stranger to me at the time and I didn't feel inclined to be completely honest. It was as simple as that."

"I see. And so you would say that you met Darius Vaughn in the month of August?"

"That's right."

Christian's ears had perked up. He wasn't quite expecting her to tell the truth and instead of looking happy about it, he was more puzzled than anything else. Mr. Tawny shot Christian a "Let's just go with it" expression and then went on with his questioning.

"Alright. So you'd made an acquaintance with Darius Vaughn and knew him for less than a month, two weeks let's say… Why would you just suddenly ditch your Australian getaway and go to him?"

"It's as I said." Hermione shrugged and then smiled. "I liked him."

"Mm, someone as bright as you I wouldn't imagine you doing such a thing." Mr. Tawny said idly. "I'd imagine you'd only do it if you felt comfortable with Mr. Vaughn. If you knew who he _really_ was-"

"Objection, Minister Stevenson," Draco stood angrily. "What Mr. Tawny _imagines_ about my client has _nothing_ to do with this case."

"Mr. Tawny,-"

"I take it back." Mr. Tawny smiled. "Let's move on…"

"Moving on" for Hermione was an utter hell. She felt like she had been on the stand for hours and, without being able to find a clock within the room to confirm or deny, she had no other reason but to accept it. If she hadn't been the defendant in this particular case, she would be inclined to congratulate Mr. Tawny on a job well-done. His questions were precise, leaving very little wiggle room for lies. Hermione found the room however, especially when the questions had to deal with Draco himself and letting him go. She said no to knowing that Draco had been in disguise. She told them, indignantly, that the reason she refused to cooperate with Christian was because she thought that he was wrong. When the prosecution brought up their infamous piece of evidence again –the Imprint Tests –it became an insignificant speck. The tests only proved that Hermione was a liar and that she hadn't met "Darius" in Italy. But then again, she had confessed earlier, saying that they had met in Australia, didn't she?

Minister Stevenson dismissed the Imprint Tests. He argued that they would incriminate Draco Malfoy, not Hermione and all of a sudden she felt a huge weight lift off her shoulders. What could they get her for? _Nothing_ , she reasoned within herself, but the trial wasn't over. It had to be seen all the way through and she tapped her knee endlessly as Draco went up to the next witness and stood face-to-face with Christian who did not seem to be in the best of moods.

"Would you mind telling me and everyone here what Miss Granger was arrested for?"

"Everyone here knows." Christian replied irately. "Minister Stevenson said it when the trial started-"

"I know that, but this trial has been going on for almost two hours now." Draco gently smiled. "So, with that said, I think we could use a refresher. Tell us what Miss Granger was arrested for."

"Failure to comply during an investigation and withholding evidence, lying to an investigator, and harboring a fugitive,"

"Harboring a fugitive…" Draco repeated to himself. He kicked in a chuckle and turned to the audience. "Which you can't prove, isn't that right?"

" _Mr. Delaney_ ," Minister Stevenson said in a warning tone. Draco acknowledged him and continued.

"Let me ask you, Auror Matthews, when did you get full evidence that Draco Malfoy was Darius Vaughn?"

"June fourteenth,"

"And when was Miss Granger apprehended?"

"The day before, on the thirteenth,"

"So, it's fair to say that you didn't know then?"

"Oh, I knew." Christian defended. He glanced at Hermione and sighed. "I knew she hadn't been ignorant of this whole ordeal. On the sixteenth I interrogated her. I interrogated her twice more after that on the eighteenth and nineteenth. I told her that we knew for sure that Darius Vaughn was really Draco Malfoy in disguise."

"And what did my client do? How did she act? What did she say?"

"She was quiet at first. Said she couldn't believe it and other things of the like. She then went on to admit how often she had been to see him and what they did together."

"And that's _all_ that was said?" Draco questioned him. Christian nodded and that was all that Draco needed. He then turned to the Wizard Council and said, "Auror Matthews has no proof!"

" _No proof?_ " Christian was outraged, but of course this didn't faze Draco in the slightest. "Hermione told me! She said that I would never catch him. She said that he wasn't doing anything to anyone, that he was being quiet, and why couldn't he just be left alone."

"But did she say _any of that_ in the interrogation room?" Draco challenged. Christian swallowed and grounded his teeth. "Was any of that said? Did she say, _plain and clear_ , that she knew who Darius Vaughn really was?"

Christian didn't say anything. The answer was no. Hermione knew it, and Draco knew it. And because he knew it he began to smile. He paced once back and forth in front of the witness chair, waiting for Christian to present some sort of answer, and Hermione was staring at Draco's face. In particular she was staring at the smile that he held that was slowly turning itself into a smirk –his signature smirk that no one could imitate. He presented that same smirk to Christian, whose eyes suddenly began to grow wide. He stared from him, to Hermione, and back to Draco again. In the back of her mind Hermione was screaming at Draco to cut it out –his malicious and taunting little smile, because he was the only one in the world who did it the way he did, in a way that made your skin crawl. And with a man like Christian, who researched his next catch to a tee and analyzed every action, it wouldn't take long for him to understand.

And he did. Out of nowhere Christian began to laugh. It was a laugh that resembled one associated with insanity, and the Minister, as well as everyone there, was giving him a curious look.

"You're good." Christian said smugly. He looked over at Hermione and huffed. "The both of you,"

"Want to share with the rest of us what you're going on about Auror Matthews?" Draco said with his smile still in place. Christian crossed his arms.

"Of course there is, but if I said it none of you would believe me."

"Auror Matthews-?" The Minister was thoroughly perplexed and even more so when Christian suddenly rose from the witness chair. He sincerely apologized and gingerly began to leave the courtroom. "Auror Matthews!"

"Leave him be, Minister Stevenson." Draco said as he watched Christian retreat from the audience and to the exit. "I was through questioning him anyway."

Christian ignored all of the looks and whispers that were going on around him. He kept his walk brisk and at a steady pace, only slowing down when he got close to Hermione. He stopped, only for a second and said soft enough so that only she would hear, "If it wasn't for him, you would've come clean."

Hermione knew it to be true. Had Draco not come to her rescue and told her not to say anything about knowing who he really was when the interrogation time came, she would've thought that it was all over. And because it was all over, she wouldn't have found it necessary to keep lying. She would've just came out with it; told Christian that yes, she had known that Draco was Darius, and that yes, she had been protecting him.

But it didn't really matter now, did it? Christian was gone from the courtroom, and all eyes were settled on Draco; the rather impressive Samuel Delaney who had made an extraordinary argument, and was now giving his closing statement that had everyone in awe and admiration.

"Minister, I make a motion that either this case be thrown out, or, Hermione Granger be tried for failure to comply during an investigation which, as I recall, the penalty is simply three to five months wand probation for a level three violation. Though I must say it is a bit unfair. What was Miss Granger doing, really? All she's guilty of is firmly believing that Draco Malfoy was _not_ Darius Vaughn.

'And let's face reality. Miss Granger's known Draco Malfoy for years." Here Draco smiled and eyed the crowd, his eyes settling on Hermione who was grinning from ear to ear. "I think she'd be able to spot a snake in her garden if there was one."

* * *

 **Author's note:** Draco….is…AWESOME. Is there anything this man can't do? One problem though, seeing as Christian's thoroughly pissed off now. This may not end too well.

Thanks for reading everyone, especially to my guest reviewers. I wish that I could reply back to you, but know that I'm reading them and am very grateful for your comments! :D

-WP


	16. The Good Life

Draco was amazing. If Hermione hadn't liked him before, daresay _loved him_ , she certainly would've now. After his remarkable take-down of Christian, he sat down in his appropriate seat, found Hermione's hand, and as discretely as he could, held it tight tightly as he caressed her palm. Minister Stevenson gave everyone on the council time to leave the courtroom and think among themselves about the day's events. For an open and shut case leaning towards Hermione's innocence, they had taken a tremendous amount of time deliberating. But when they returned, everyone in the courtroom found out why it had taken them so long.

Apparently they had quickly come up with a verdict of not guilty. What they were heavily debating on was what her sentence would be when it came to failure to comply in an investigation. When that sentence was given, the spectators were in awe. As for "Mr. Delaney," he very unprofessionally hugged Hermione, lifting her up off her feet for a moment and giving her a gentle twirl. Hermione had to fight every urge to kiss him –a much better thank you than a hug, but the courtroom was neither the time nor the place. Once Draco set her down, he regained his composure, expressed his happiness about the turn out and dismissed himself before Harry and Ron came over and hugged her to death.

"…What a punishment." Ron was saying as he led the way out of Hermione's fireplace and into the living room. He sat down on her sofa and Hermione followed suit, watching as Harry took it upon himself to head into her kitchen to make tea for the three of them. "Five months wand probation… That's not even a punishment for you, is it? You hardly pick up a wand when you're at home. This won't be so hard for you at all."

"Only you could make wand probation sound like a glamorous thing, Ron." Hermione laughed. She sighed and smoothed out a part of her hair. "I won't be able to get to most wizarding towns without the help of someone. No potion-making for those that require an incantation. And I can't even apparate."

"Yes you can."

"Well, you _can_ , but it's highly inadvisable and the cause for most splinches. I'd like to keep my limbs, please."

Ron rolled his eyes and grinned. He suddenly thought of all the times he had apparated without a wand on him and knew that if Hermione had known this she would've taken on a mother-like personality and berated him.

"At least now that the trial is over you and that lawyer of yours can snog the hell out of each other."

Hermione abruptly turned her head to him with wide eyes and a shocked expression. Ron outright laughed and continued to do so until she had relaxed her face.

"What was the face for?" He was still chuckling as her entire face took on a deep shade of pink.

"That comment, what else..?"

"Oh, come on, Hermione. It's obvious that Delaney guy likes you." Ron gave her a coy look as the pink in her face began to change to red. "It was hard to see the pair of you after the verdict –all the commotion with the spectators and people getting up and all. He probably gave you a peck on the cheek when the case was over."

"Well, for your information he did no such thing." Hermione said triumphantly though her discolored face contradicted her. Harry came into the living room then with a tray of three cups of tea with a huge smile as he set the tray down on the coffee table.

"Hand it over." Harry said to Ron as he held out his hand. Hermione stared at him confusedly and then turned to Ron who was wearing a frown as he dug his hand into his pocket. His hand reemerged with five galleons and they were tipped over into Harry's hand. "Told you Delaney wouldn't kiss her,"

"You two made a bet that Sam would kiss me?" Hermione was in disbelief and amusement as they nodded and she promptly let out a sigh of disapproval. "And I guess you're going to say that you made a bet that he would ask me out too, then?"

"Did he?" Ron asked suddenly. Hermione was cautious in answering, but told them yes either way. Draco hadn't done it in the courtroom, but rather waited until the place had cleared out and sent a flying memo her way with his home address on it and a time.

At her answer Harry grinned even more and Ron plunged his hand back into his pocket once again, pulling out ten galleons this time. "Taking money from a poor man… Some friend you are."

Harry laughed. "That only worked when we were in Hogwarts and before you became an Auror. I know how much you make."

Hermione just sat there in awe as they exchanged money between themselves and then began to hit them both with the throw pillows on the sofa. "I can't believe that you guys bet on my love life!" She said amidst laughter which diminished from her supposed "anger."

"If this bothers you, you don't want to know what else we bet on." Ron smiled, and Hermione simply rolled her eyes.

* * *

Alias number two was definitely a public figure. Her conclusion wasn't due to the fact that Samuel Delaney was a lawyer and had just won a case now-made-famous. It was because of where he lived. It wasn't a house remotely situated away from neighbors. In fact it wasn't a house at all. It was a flat in an apartment building, floor seventeen. The apartment building held twenty floors altogether, and only twenty flats, each floor having one flat to itself.

"So, what do you think of the place?" Draco asked as he let Hermione inside. She walked into the middle of the living room and stared at it. It was quite spacious with a glass coffee table in front of the fireplace, brown sofa and two matching armchairs on either side of it. Beige carpeting, a balcony in the distance, and off to her right was an archway that would lead to one of the two kitchens.

"It's no condo." Hermione teased, and Draco smiled. He took her jacket from her and left her side to hang it up, coming back with two glasses of champagne. She took a long healthy sip from her glass and gave a contented sigh. "I still can't believe what you did in that courtroom. But I don't understand though. If you knew you could do that then…"

"Why be a criminal?" Draco finished. He shrugged his shoulders and drained his glass in one go. "Blame my corrupt childhood."

Hermione rolled her eyes. They sat on the sofa and Draco took the liberty to slip off Hermione's shoes one by one and to rest her legs on his lap. Hermione kept herself from blushing and continued with her drink. "How'd you get so good though? I don't believe you ever went to Wizard L.S."

"No, I didn't. But I did have wizard law school classes. Private sessions of course, courtesy of my paranoid father. There were always two things he said someone in our 'positions' should have: aliases and knowledge of wizard law."

"That way you'd know what to do and what not to do, right?"

Draco nodded. His hands were gliding over Hermione's feet, weaving up and over her toes and under her heels. "I hated those bloody classes. But there comes a time when you find out that your parents were right about something. And here I was thinking that I was an exception."

"Oh, yes, because you're just that special." Hermione chuckled, partly because of her sarcastic comment and because Draco's fingers were gently tracing up and down her calves.

"Everyone has the right to think they're special, Granger." Draco grinned. "At least this whole mess is over now."

"Is it? Christian's still out there, you know. And he _knows_."

"I'm not worried about him."

"You weren't worried about him the last time either." Hermione frowned and then let out a laugh once Draco touched the tickle spot just behind her knees.

"I'm not worried because last time I checked, the Daily Prophet pegged him as an 'Auror Gone Mad Due to Obsession.'"

Hermione furrowed her brow at that as Draco reached behind him. He picked up the Daily Prophet from off of the end table and passed it to her. There it was, big and bold: a photo of Christian and a smaller photo of him storming out of the courtroom in the lower right.

"No one trusts the word of a lunatic." He said nonchalantly. Hermione agreed, sighed, and then tossed the newspaper on the coffee table.

"But he'll find a way though. We both know he'll find a way to make himself heard."

Draco sighed. He nodded, knowing it to be true. He stayed silent for a moment, staring at Hermione's knees, or her hands rather that were resting on them. Draco slid his hands over hers and caught her gaze.

"At least for now we don't have to hide anymore." Draco said softly and then began to smile. "And so I ask you, may I have you, Miss Granger?"

Hermione smiled broadly. She slipped her hands from his and set her feet from his lap to the ground in order to rid the space that was between them. "There's no need to ask." She put a hand on his check and caressed it lightly. "Mr. Malfoy, you already have me."

* * *

Hermione never felt so loved in her life. Every touch, every gesture, and every kiss was gently made. Draco treated her like a delicate china doll, something to be treasured. Never had she thought that she'd be making love to, much less touched by, her enemy. It was an insatiable rush, an unbelievable act, and a beautiful dream. And what made it all the more special was the fact that all formality was lost. He had said her name, and it had never sounded so foreign and yet so perfect.

They had been silent for a while now, cozying up to each other. Hermione was sure that Draco's mind at the moment was blank –preferring not to think of anything except of what had just happened. Unfortunately for her, her mind was never at rest.

"…Things happen for a reason." Hermione spoke. "I know that. And I can't help but feel that if I hadn't been arrested, that if the trial hadn't happened…we wouldn't be here."

"But?" Draco prodded. Hermione sighed. Her back had been to him, but she fixed herself so that she could face him.

"Günter… If he hadn't given his clothes away an Imprint Test couldn't have been done. It's what kicked all of this off."

"True, but it's like you said, things happen for a reason. And besides, what else was he supposed to do?"

Hermione stared at him confusedly. "You're not mad at him?"

Draco looked ashamed. He knew he should've said yes, but he slowly shook his head. "It might not make sense to you, and the reason might not be enough for you either, but Uncle Geoffrey is a con man. They do what they have to do to keep themselves out of trouble, even if that means stabbing someone close to them in the back. It's selfish, and I know that, but a con man's life has no room for someone else."

"Is that what Günter taught you?"

"Every day… But I was a terrible student." Draco smiled. "Because it's obvious the lesson didn't take."

* * *

 **Author's note:** Alright, so after all the drama a little bit of fluff AND Hermione and Draco can _finally_ have each other in peace! But what is it that they say? The calm before the storm?

Thanks for reading!

-WP


	17. Searching for Answers

Hermione didn't want to jinx anything, but it truly felt like everything was perfect. She wasn't in prison, she had her job back, she was openly dating Draco (Samuel Delaney to others), and to top it all off Harry and Ron approved of her relationship. They constantly taunted her, reverting to childhood games about her and Draco kissing under a tree. Ron was the worst, telling tales about how one day she'd be Mrs. Hermione Delaney and her future children would all be fierce as hell lawyers and Aurors.

"A real powerhouse, eh 'Mione..?" He would chuckle, and all Hermione could do was hide her cheeks with her hair and pretend that she couldn't hear him.

And yet she couldn't deny that when she was home alone her mind would sometimes wander off and think about the future and a life with Draco in it. Two months ago they had made things official between them and already Hermione couldn't imagine being without him. Was it natural to be this love-sick over someone so quickly? She didn't know, and she didn't care. The only thing that she cared about was Draco and prayed to Merlin that nothing would come and ruin it.

"Or _someone_ ," Hermione gritted her teeth as she sat at her desk, taking a break from her failure to concentrate on her work.

For two months while she and Draco's new relationship flourished, Christian had vanished. He hadn't been seen of or heard from since he stormed out of the courtroom in August and it was unsettling. There were whispers going about that he had killed himself over not being able to imprison her or get his elusive catch, but Hermione knew better. For one, those whispers were nothing more than bits of gossip spoken by those who had nothing else better to do. And second, Christian wasn't the type to accept defeat. It would've been a difference if Hermione had escaped Azkaban fairly. Technically she had, but not according to Christian's standards. She had had help. And that help had come from a man who had so subtly ruined his career.

Hermione sighed and stood up from her desk. She had taken up the habit of pacing and slowly walked back and forth in front of her desk. "He won't quit…and neither will I."

The "neither will I" stemmed from the fact that while Hermione was sure that Christian was off planning something, she was on a little mission on her own.

Whether something registered in her brain sooner or later, it didn't matter. It had still registered, and it would pester her until she could find out more information about it –or at the very least make sense of it. Because Christian was on her mind daily, so were all the times she was ever with him and the conversations that they had. One particular conversation stuck out the most, and it had happened after she had been arrested and he had come to tell her (in a scoffing manner) about the Imprint Test.

He had told her that he had been to Azkaban. It was indirectly said of course, but it was said nevertheless. That small aspect had thrown Hermione off then and was still throwing her off now. She had to admit that yes, while the Ministry was lenient on various occasions there were some times where they weren't. And that's when they were hiring Aurors.

The Ministry prided their Aurors. It's the best department in the Ministry and definitely the most well-known. They wouldn't let just _anyone_ be an Auror and so background checks were an absolute must. That's why Hermione was struggling with the fact that Christian was an Auror. Anyone with a criminal past is immediately disqualified for application. If it was a minor misdemeanor, then okay, candidates have a chance, but _not_ with only three months of freedom under your belt.

Minor misdemeanors meant after eight months of liberation candidacy for an Auror Training Program is available. "And I refuse to believe that his behavior was _so good_ to do what should be done after eight months, after three." Hermione had told Harry.

Naturally he thought that she was being paranoid, but he did what she asked of her. That's why Hermione wasn't able to concentrate on her work, and why she was now painstakingly pacing around her office.

"Hermione,"

Hermione's office door had been pushed open and Harry let himself inside. "There you are! What took you so long?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, I was combing through thousands of names and tons of files for you." Harry said sarcastically, and Hermione immediately apologized. "It's alright. But just so you know it's a bloody hell up there. You'd think the Ministry would have a better organizing system."

"For Merlin's sake, you sound like me." Hermione chuckled and then presented him with an eager face. "Well? What've you got?"

"There was nothing."

"Nothing..?"

"Not a single whiff that Christian was ever in Azkaban." Harry told her. "He was never there. He lied to you."

"But why..?" Hermione was confused. "He had no reason to lie. Why would he tell me that he had been there for two years?"

"Messing with you?" Harry suggested. "He's certainly been playing a few games of his own all this time, so why not humor you when you were at your lowest point?"

Hermione frowned. She supposed Harry could be right. But her instincts were telling her that he was wrong, and besides this was Harry she was talking about. She knew what his definition of "thorough searching" was, and it hardly measured up to her standards. Sighing, Hermione put up a front and told Harry that yes, maybe he was right and maybe Christian really had just been playing with her. All the while saying that, she had been thinking about how she'd get into the Azkaban Records Room. Yes, she had had her job back, but aside from being wand-less for another three months, her clearance level had declined significantly.

Some sneaking around would have to do…

* * *

"Where are you?"

"I'm right here."

"'Right here' doesn't tell me where you are, Hermione." Draco said as he calmly walked down the halls and said hello to a few people. He stopped in front of the elevator and soon felt Hermione's lips touch the base of his neck.

"Better?" She asked, and Draco smiled, saying that it was.

Against Hermione's many protestations, Draco had accepted an offer the Ministry made to work for them in the Department of Wizarding Law. It was only part-time work for he told the Head of the Department that he first and foremost worked for a private, self-owned wizard law firm. Hermione had scolded him for that, saying that the Ministry would check into it without a doubt. But little did she know that the firm was real. It was small and held fewer than thirty employees.

"I managed it while Darius Vaughn still existed." He had told her, which was why it had made the transition into alias number two so easy and why the Ministry thought he'd be a wonderful addition. Though Hermione still worried that this could backfire in some way, it worked out to her advantage. Draco had gained all the clearance levels that she had lost and while she was under a Chameleon Charm, Hermione and Draco had taken a walk and elevator ride to the Azkaban Records Room.

"Wow, Harry was right." Hermione said as she allowed Draco to take off the Chameleon Charm. "This place needs some _serious_ reorganization."

The massive room was divided into two parts, off to the right being records from the year 1864 until now, and off to the left from 1718 when Azkaban had been first used as a prison to 1863. Though however important Azkaban was to society, apparently making sure that the names of arrestees and their arrest dates were not.

"Why should they be?" Draco chuckled as he drifted off to his right, Hermione following. "The same information is kept in the Wizarding Law Department. _And_ in more detail,"

Hermione frowned. "Well, if I had known that we could've gone there to search instead of this monstrosity."

"Tell you what," Draco suggested. "If we come up empty here, we'll check out my department. Deal? Besides, you've got to see it. Their records room is immaculate. Perfectly arranged-"

"Humph, sounds like you enjoy working here." Hermione teased and pretended not to hear his mumbled reply that he did _a little bit_.

"What year are we looking for?"

"Well, according to Harry, Christian's twenty-eight like us. _Supposedly_ , he went to Azkaban when he was seventeen so…- Right here, 1991."

Draco frowned as he saw the state of things. It was sets of filing cabinets with an Engorgio Charm on them so that they could hold much more than they were supposed to. As he pulled open the top drawer, even more dissatisfaction was felt when he and Hermione realized that the names weren't even alphabetized.

Sighing, Draco conjured a pair of chairs and they sat down and immediately got to work. They combed through drawer after drawer, name after name, stopping at every file that stated the person's age as seventeen. None of them turned out to be Christian though. Granted some of the names looked a little faded, but Hermione tried her hardest to read them; trying to turn N's into H's and I's into R's. There was no luck however, and they couldn't stay in there all day.

"Potter was right, Hermione." Draco said as he made the chairs disappear. "Christian was just toying with you."

"Or this room is just a bloody mess and we need to look elsewhere. You promised."

Draco sighed. "I know I did. But I failed to mention that our records are copies. They originate from this room. If it's not here…"

Hermione angrily crossed her arms. She knew what Draco was saying was true. If the Azkaban Records Room was telling her nothing, then that meant that there was truly nothing to find. It was something she would simply have to accept, although she wasn't accepting it gracefully. Draco laughed at her as he escorted her home.

"Why can't you accept the fact, that at least for now, things are fine?"

"Call me paranoid,-"

"I am-"

"But I have to explore everything." Hermione admitted. "I was taught that if it's too good to be true, then it probably is."

"And I was taught to enjoy the ride whenever possible. I'd love to do that, but you're making it rather difficult." Draco smiled. Hermione gave a soft laugh and apologized.

"Okay, okay fine… I'll _enjoy the ride_.Oh, by the way, Harry and Ron wants the four us to have dinner together sometime soon."

Draco cocked a brow in utter surprise. "What, why..?"

"They just want to properly get to know you is all. They're quite protective of me, in case you haven't noticed already."

"Oh yeah, I've noticed." Draco rubbed the back of his head and sucked his teeth. "Alright, fine…. We'll have dinner with Potter and Weasley."

Hermione smiled and laughed as she wrapped her arm around his. "Good, and it's _Harry_ _and Ron_."

"It's Potter and Weasley until I'm standing right in front of them." Draco chuckled. "I've got to keep _some_ part of my identity, don't I?"

Hermione shook her head at him in amusement and silently agreed with him. They continued on their way to the apparation spot, Draco accompanying her home since she couldn't do it on her own. As they prepared to disapparate, Hermione hesitated for a moment upon seeing a shadow in the distance. Though it was merely a shadow, she couldn't understand why it made her halt so suddenly. Draco asked if she was alright, but by the time she acknowledged him and looked back the shadow was gone.

Shrugging it off they left and Hermione pushed her jittery feeling away; thinking of it as simple imagination and of non-importance.

* * *

 **Author's note:** Leave it to Hermione to never let anything die. Perhaps there really isn't anything to find on Christian? Besides, there are more pertinent "shadowy" figures to attend to :).

Feel free to spout your theories!

-WP


	18. Advice from a Shadow

Hermione planned the dinner two weeks later. It could've been sooner, but she wanted it to fall on the third month anniversary that she and Draco had been together. Harry wondered if that was a good idea, pointing out that maybe she and "Sam" would like to have that day to themselves. Ron added with a soft laugh that their celebrating would more than likely take place during the night, not midevening. At that Hermione blushed furiously before looking away in embarrassment, preferring to stare through the window of her home.

Aside from thinking that the dinner would be nice on this day, Hermione didn't want to be alone with Draco. Yes, that sounded absurd, but it wasn't for any of the reasons that would normally come to a person's mind.

For more than a month Hermione had felt watched. Whether she was sitting cozily in her office, doing paperwork, having lunch with Draco, or home alone with a book in her lap, an uncomfortable feeling would overcome her and result in paranoid actions until she felt safe again.

She didn't tell anyone about how she was feeling. It could've been all in her head. She was _hoping_ it was all in her head. The fact that Christian was still nowhere to be found didn't help with that though. What if those eyes Hermione swore she felt on her day in and day out were his? What if, having truly gone mad, he had determined to take the law into his own hands and just do away with her? Death was surely aligned with time in Azkaban, so why not?

Sighing, Hermione pushed those thoughts out of her head. Draco was with her and helping her bring out the food from the kitchen and onto the dining room table all the while mumbling Harry's and Ron's first names so as not to slip up. Every now and again he looked up at Hermione, waiting to see her snicker at his preparation, but this time around she was good. She promised herself that she wouldn't laugh, and when Draco saw that she wasn't going to, he openly expressed that it was okay to laugh and Hermione graciously accepted and apologized with a kiss.

Some minutes after the table was finished, the fireplace ignited and Harry and Ron stepped through. Hermione stopped her laughing and greeted them.

"Sam, I don't think you've properly met my friends, Harry and Ron." Hermione said as calmly as possible though her heart was tempted to flee from her chest. "Harry, Ron…this is Sam."

Hermione stood awkwardly among them and watched as Ron was the first to stretch his hand out.

"Hard to forget the man who got our dear Hermione off the hook." Ron smiled. Draco smiled as well and gave his hand to shake. Harry came next and the three of them began talking as though they had been friends for ages.

Hermione took a deep, satisfying breath and excused herself to her kitchen in order to get what she called her "special carving knife." It was the one she always used at special gatherings no matter how big or small. It was stupid, perhaps, maybe a little juvenile, but it was a habit that was hard to break. Unfortunately the universe wasn't on her side and she couldn't find it for her life. She took several minutes to tear her kitchen apart before standing in the middle of the room with her hands on her hips in confusion.

"You okay in here?" Harry asked. He had come into the kitchen when she didn't reemerge.

"I can't find my carving knife." Hermione told him and Harry began to laugh.

"Oh come on, Hermione. What do you need a knife for? We all have wands-" He cut himself off after reminding himself that she wouldn't have her wand back until another two months. "Just let one of us do it."

Hermione stubbornly shook her head and crossed her arms. "Absolutely not; you know very well that I have a ritual." She then began to smile before resuming her search. "So, I suppose we'll all have to starve until I-"

"You loaned it."

"I what..?"

"You loaned your knife, see?"

Hermione turned to Harry in confusion. He had crossed over to her refrigerator and picked off a small note that she had clearly missed. She took it from him and saw what was written messily in her own hand. _Carving knife, Ms. Carson_.

"And you tell me I can't remember anything." Harry laughed as he left the kitchen. Hermione on the other hand couldn't understand why Ms. Carson, the woman that she was, wouldn't have her own carving knife. She also couldn't understand why, if Hermione was to loan her one, would she give away her special one? It didn't make an ounce of sense, especially because she couldn't remember doing it.

Sighing, Hermione announced to the others that she was heading to her neighbor's to get her knife. Of course, mentioning this didn't have much of an effect. Harry, Ron, and Draco were having a hearty conversation about Quiditch. Hermione rolled her eyes and smiled, praying that the rest of the evening went just as well and Draco didn't have any slipups.

As she left her house, Hermione frowned. One of the reasons she loved where she lived was because of all the lighting. She could leave her house and not be plunged into total darkness. But not tonight. Two of the streetlights had gone out and made the street twice as dark. It was unsettling; especially because Hermione was feeling like she was being watched again.

She took a deep breath. She was still standing on her doorstep, but soon ventured off of it with great caution. She held herself as she looked to her left and right to make sure there were no cars coming and to make sure there was no one there.

 _Empty as usual_ Hermione thought to herself about her street. Her house was located with a cluster of other little houses away from the main road. Usually those who ventured down here were lost. She began chuckling to herself as she remembered a cute elderly couple who had stopped her for directions once. It was as she was deep in her thoughts that they, as well as her walking, became interrupted.

As soon as Hermione had stepped onto the pathway of Ms. Carson's house, a pair of arms grabbed her. A hand was over her mouth and the next around her waist. She hardly had any time to react before she was dragged away from sight and off to the corner of the road behind shrubbery and a few trees so they couldn't be seen.

Hermione felt a controlled kick come in contact with the back of her knees that brought her to the ground instantly. She was unable to register that her attacker had let her go so that he could quickly perform a Muffilato Charm. By the time she had, however, her wrists were being held tightly behind her back and her attacker was forcefully resting upon the back of her calves.

"Please, Ms. Granger, I don't want to hurt you."

Hermione's eyes bulged instantly as she recognized the voice. "Günter..! What the hell do you think you're doing..?!"

Günter ignored her question and merely applied more pressure to her wrists. "I know you don't have a wand and the more you struggle the more it'll hurt."

Hermione was ignoring him though she was feeling the very effects Günter mentioned as she continued to try to break free.

" _Please_ ," He reiterated. "Hurting you is the last thing that I want. I just want to talk to you."

"If that's all you want then let me go. There's no need to hold me like this."

"Oh, yes there is. Aurors versus the Condemned has shown me what you can do without a wand."

Hermione laughed. "So you're afraid that I'll hurt you?"

Günter gave a laugh of his own and added in a snobby tone, "Of course not. I'm afraid of what I'll have to do if you try. So calm down and listen to me. It'll only take a minute."

Having no choice, Hermione nodded and felt Günter loosen the grip on her wrists, but not so much so that she could escape. Not to mention she was still kneeling on the ground and he was still pressing on her legs.

"Someone has been watching you."

"That's an obvious statement at this point, don't you think?"

"Not me!" Günter hissed. "And he's been watching you ever since the end of your trial."

"Christian… You're talking about Christian, aren't you?" Hermione felt Günter nod and she took a deep breath. "He seems more of a man of action rather than watching."

"He's a lot more than that, which is why I'm offering you a bit of advice. What's the most common crime among the rich and spoiled?"

"Fraud, but what does that have to do with-?"

Hermione's question went unanswered. A loud snap in the air had reached her ears and her wrists had finally been released. Would she see Günter again? It was hard to say. But what wasn't so hard was that surely he'd be lurking in the shadows in order to keep an eye on the man who was keeping his own on her.

* * *

When Hermione finally made it to Ms. Carson's door, she was already there with the knife in her hands. Eyes glassed over and an unusually over-expressed smile, Hermione concluded that this was Günter's doing. He needed a sure-fire way to get her out of the house as well as to ensure that no one would come looking for her for taking too long. So of course the Imperious Curse on both of them would have to do.

But how did Günter know that her carving knife was so important to her that she wouldn't just say forget about it and use another? How did he know that tonight would be the night that she'd want it? Surely this meant that he'd been watching her for some time now, but how long? As long as he said that Christian had been?

Back at the dinner Hermione made it look like nothing was wrong. She wore all smiles and laughed at everything she normally would, but this didn't fool everyone, nor did she expect it to. Draco's eyes were too well trained, and after Harry and Ron left Hermione came clean.

"Why didn't you tell me that you thought you were being watched?" Draco asked angrily. Clearly he didn't take things being kept from him well.

"I didn't want to worry you in case it was all in my head." Hermione frowned.

"Well, we know that it wasn't and now we have a problem on our hands."

"Haven't we always?" Hermione countered. "I told you Christian would still be a problem whether people were calling him crazy or not. But what's got me is Günter. Why would he warn me?"

"Uncle Geoffrey's a good man."

"He gave us up!"

" _He had no choice_!" Draco shot back. He had a look of hurt on his face by Hermione's accusation and he muttered quietly, "Survival of the fittest, Hermione… It's a-"

"Con man thing, I get it."

There was an annoying silence for a few minutes during which Hermione played with a strand of her hair. "Draco…how much suspicion over you do you think the Ministry would get if you took out a file that was eleven years old?"

"I wouldn't say suspicious. Curious maybe, but they'd let it slide; especially if I'd only taken it out for less than twenty-four hours. Why?"

"Well, the Azkaban Records Room was a bust, but as you say the Wizarding Law Department has much better records. Günter led me in the direction of fraud for a reason, and I think Christian's file might be there."

Draco nodded. He took a deep breath and glanced out of the window behind her. Was it a shadow? Possibly… Did he think so? No. He thought not because he was sure that he saw the shadow become more of a solid figure, and that figure had a head that nodded to him in an encouraging fashion which Draco internalized. Luckily for him, he was better at hiding his fears and suspicions than Hermione was and returned his gaze to her.

"I guess we're taking a trip to the Wizarding Law Department's Records Room on Monday."

* * *

Once again under a Chameleon Charm, Hermione was escorted by Draco. There was no need for her to be in disguise this time around, but to limit suspicion they thought it necessary. It was bad enough looking into a file that no one had touched for a decade with no true reason, but it would also be just as bad if security had caught both Draco and Hermione checking out a file, but only Draco signed for it.

The Records Room in the Wizarding Law Department was like a fortress. Only those with enough clearance could get through, and if a file was being looked at, the user had to sign for it. If the file was being taken out of the Records Room, it had to be signed for a second time along with a wand print.

It was determined between Draco and Hermione that Christian could have taken his file from the Azkaban Records Room with ease. Security up there didn't go pass having a certain clearance level, so why not? But here..? It was impossible.

"I still can't believe that you've been working here for so long and yet you haven't been back here." Draco said in awe. Hermione shrugged; a pointless action since she was camouflaged.

"I'm an Auror, Draco. My business doesn't go past arresting and interrogating people. All of this work is for the lawyers."

Draco chuckled. "Well, thanks for all the work then."

He led the way to what could be likened to a computer screen. It was the only thing in the small room, but behind it were shelves upon shelves stocked with files on every Azkaban prisoner there was. Whatever file was needed would materialize on the desk that was located next to the screen.

"There's a max of five thousand files always in this room. There are other rooms that hold less, others that hold more. The rooms are divided up into categories; this one being financial." Draco informed her. He waved his wand in front of the screen that showed a total of files less than that of five thousand. "Twenty of those that are missing have to deal with fraud cases. Five were taken out by Finch, two by Ronin, ten by Hems, one by Travers-"

"Travers?" Hermione repeated. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, why..?"

"When?"

"Um, a little more than a year ago, August... That's much too long to keep a file without being penalized for it."

"Not to mention that it's not possible. That was during my sabbatical when Harry and Ron wrote to me. They told me that Travers had retired at the end of the month before. There's no way that he could've taken a file from here."

Draco's brow was furrowed as was Hermione's when a thought suddenly dawned on her. She pushed Draco aside so that she could better see into the screen and began searching for what file "Travers" had taken, but nothing was showing up.

"Just as I thought." Hermione declared. "Draco, take the charm off, there's nothing for us to find here."

"What do you mean there's nothing to find?" Draco asked as he did as she said. Hermione then told him to look at the screen and soon he understood why. "The file's not registered? How is that possible?"

"When someone retires from the Ministry, their wand gets retired too, removed from the system. Travers probably didn't get it retired right away. Whatever files attached to his signature and wand disappeared the moment he retired his wand. And do you know what else happened during this time? Christian got hired."

Draco drew a deep breath and clenched his jaw. "He'd have to be here long enough to know where Travers worked,-"

"And Imperioused him to take his file." Hermione finished. "Now, the question is this: do you think Christian would be stupid enough to hide it in his office?"

"There's only one way to find out."

* * *

 **Author's note:** Hmm, looks like Christian may not be a very upstanding guy after all. And if Hermione and Draco's theory is right, it really makes you wonder why he'd go through such trouble to keep his prison record under wraps.

Oh, I just love a good mystery! Keep those theories coming! I love reading them :)

-WP


	19. Breaking and Entering

Hermione and Draco waited until after work hours to head to Christian's office. They didn't want anyone giving them the suspicious eye, so this was the only and best option. Once inside, Hermione huffed loudly and irately crossed her arms.

"You've got to be kidding."

"What's wrong?"

"His office is twice as big as mine!"

Draco rolled his eyes, telling her that this wasn't the time to be jealous. The two of them went to the opposite sides of the room so they could look through it quickly. Aside from the fact that the office was, as Hermione said, twice as large as her own, security did checks of vacant offices every night and they had to be out of there before then.

"You'd think they would've cleared out his office by now." Draco said as he pulled open drawers and rummaged through papers.

"Well, the Ministry didn't exactly fire him, did they?" Hermione was checking the crevices of the fireplace, making sure not to get soot all over her. "Nor did he quit. Offices automatically clear themselves out after a month of the user's dismissal if it isn't done by the user himself."

"I guess it's a good thing he was neither fired nor did he quit."

Hermione nodded. If that had been the case where would they be able to look next? _Probably nowhere…_ She thought dismally and frowned after she realized that none of the cracks between the fireplace or the walls held anything. Out of desperation she checked between the bits of firewood and discovered that they felt odd. They _looked_ odd, and Hermione's heart quickened.

"These were burned recently."

"What?"

Draco stopped checking Christian's desk and moved over to Hermione. "What do you mean they've been burned? No one's been in this office-"

" _Someone_ has," Hermione said frantically as she picked up a small piece of the firewood and tossed it to Draco. "And the only person who'd have something to gain from being in here is Christian himself. We have to hurry."

Draco nodded and threw the firewood back into the fireplace. All carefulness about their searching had been tossed out the window; no longer caring about paper being strewn about, drawers wrenched out of the desks, and sofa cushions getting ripped apart. Aside from the fact that security would be there to check the office sometime soon, who's to say that Christian wouldn't appear as well? The last thing they wanted, or needed, was for him to show up.

"How's he getting in?" Hermione asked aloud. She had grabbed an object with a sharp edge off of the fireplace's mantel piece in order to better destroy the seam of the sofa in case the file was in its lining. "His photograph is everywhere. He's not to be permitted in the building."

"As much as it pains me to say it, Christian's smart." Draco had lifted a painting from the wall, checked the back of it, separated it from its frame and, finding nothing, threw it to the floor as he moved to another. "However he's doing it must be in some open, yet inconspicuous way. A disguise, maybe… Stealth alone couldn't get him in here. Jackpot!"

Hermione looked up instantly. "You found the file?"

"No, but I found where it very well may be."

Hermione messily moved from all fours to standing on her feet. Draco had found a jackpot alright, and it was a wall-safe. A clichéd hiding space and thing to have, but it was perfect. But before they could attempt to break it open, they could hear footsteps. Hermione stared at Draco in a state of alarm before he gave his wand a flick that immediately began putting the room back to how it was originally.

Draco headed towards a closet with all intentions of dragging Hermione with him so that they could hide together, but she had plans of her own. She quickly dashed to Christian's desk and hid behind it despite Draco's protests. It was too late to switch the lights off and the security guard came into the room with a confused look on his face. He looked about him, trying to see if he'd find someone or not, but had no such luck.

Hermione's heart was pounding. Her chosen hiding spot, the square crevice created for legroom between the left and right side of the desk's drawers, was not a particularly good one. But how many places to hide were there?

She took a shot and moved from the space. She wanted to take a look at the security guard and saw that it was Jerry, a rather chubby man with large glasses, and balding hair. If necessary, Hermione thought that Draco could put a spell on him to subdue him without any grave consequences. It seemed as though Draco was thinking the same thing for she could see him peeking his head out from the closet with his wand raised. But what happened next stopped his pending actions and caused Hermione to immediately dive back into her hiding space.

Jerry wasn't Jerry. Before their eyes Jerry's bald head was full of hair, his body became lean, and Christian was taking off the glasses and stuffing them into his pants pocket. Draco had been right. Christian had been getting into the Ministry by using a disguise. But how did he get close enough to Jerry in order to get a bit of his hair? Yes, there were humane ways of doing this, but Hermione couldn't help but think of all the inhumane ones.

Hermione hugged her knees. She could hear Christian walking around. He was taking slow, steady, and careful steps, as if examining the room and trying to figure out if anything was missing or just different in general. Soon those steps were hard and purposeful. Hermione's heart skipped a beat as she saw Christian's legs right in front of her, the tip of his shoes merely five or so inches away from her.

 _Please, don't look down. Please, don't look down._ Hermione repeated that mantra incessantly and even more so when he leaned over to his right and pulled a drawer open. If he so chose to rummage through the second drawer, Christian would be able to stare her in the face and who knew what would happen after that?

Christian slammed the drawer shut and proceeded to open the drawer on his left. His body movements indicated that he would search the drawer below it as well, but instead, he closed the top drawer and immediately walked away from the desk. Hermione let out a silent sigh of relief. Her legs were becoming numb at this point, and deciding to take the risk, she unfolded herself from her cramped position and peeked her head above the desk. Christian had gone over to a painting some four feet away from the sofa she had previously destroyed.

Hermione knew that the wall-safe was behind there. Draco seemed to have perceived Christian's actions and from where he was hiding had casted a Chameleon Charm on Hermione. Feeling safer, she crept over to where Christian was. She watched as he turned the combination, and all the while doing this she took the man in. This was the first time she was seeing him in three months, and truth be told, he looked nothing like he used to.

His hair was ragged as well as his clothes, his eyes looked shiftier, and where his face had once been clean, a mal-maintained beard had grown in. This Christian Matthews was not the man Hermione had grown to know and despise. He was not balanced. He was not careful. He was stealthier, yes, but in a way that made him seem more dangerous than ever.

The wall-safe contained what anyone would think was in there: money. There wasn't much of it however, but who's to say that there hadn't been much more and Christian had simply been taking it out little by little?

But aside from money, the wall-safe had what Hermione and Draco had been looking for. Unfortunately, there was more than one file. There was no time to search through all of them, nor would she be able to with Christian standing right next to her. Instead, Draco did her a favor by causing one of the windows to open, allowing a strong breeze to flow through the room and knock over some things on Christian's desk. He turned to the noise and attended to his falling items, giving Hermione the time to take enough of the files so that Christian wouldn't notice that some of them were missing. With the files pressed to her chest, she dashed into the closet with Draco who closed the door before Christian had the chance to see anything.

Christian, having no inclination that anything had happened behind his back, went back over to his wall-safe, took out a bit more money to stuff inside his pockets, and closed the wall-safe door. A swig of Polyjuice Potion later, Christian was balding and portly again. The glasses he had stuffed in his pocket he placed on his face and he grinned, choosing to leave his office while whistling a tune.

* * *

Hermione sat on her sofa at home completely fed up and exhausted. The files she had snatched from Christian's wall-safe were scattered over her coffee table and every time she stared at them a wall of tears wanted to splash all over them.

None of the files were his.

Fifteen files were taken from Christian's office and not a single one was his. Hermione could strangle herself, and although Draco was acting sincere, she knew that he was disappointed in the outcome as well.

"You couldn't take them all, you know that." Draco reasoned. Hermione shrugged, muttering that it was true. She sighed and peered over all the files that she _did_ manage to take.

"Günter's file is here."

"What?"

Hermione picked the file up and handed it to him. Draco opened it and, sure enough, a photograph of his dear ole Uncle Geoffrey was staring him in the face.

"This didn't register under Travers' name."

"Neither did the rest of these." Hermione gestured to what was on her coffee table. "All this means is that Christian's been Imperious-ing more than just Travers."

Draco sighed and nodded as he took a seat next to her. "Which explains why he's been going in and out of the Ministry… Suspicion will be drawn if these files are kept out for long periods of time. He has to Imperious the workers to put these files back and then take them out again at a later date. What other files are here?"

"Um, someone named Rodney Philips, a Yuri Jorgen, Luther Kilmer… Fraud. They were all arrested for some type of fraud. What do you think Christian wants with these people? Draco? _Draco_?"

Hermione turned to Draco who was speechless. She shook him by the shoulder to get him out his reverie, but when he was out of it, he scraped up all the files that she had mentioned and poured over all of them.

"…Uncle Geoffrey," He breathed. "They're all Uncle Geoffrey. These are his aliases."

" _All of them?_ "

Draco nodded, but then shook his head. "Well, no, not all of them. The ones you mentioned, they're his. But that was only three of them."

"Only three…?" Hermione repeated. She blinked her eyes rapidly in disbelief and began handing Draco more files. "How many does he have altogether?"

"Ten… Here goes two more of them."

Hermione watched as Draco went through the files. He managed to find all ten and he held them in his lap, looking over all of them and making sure that they were in fact all of Günter's aliases. Hermione on the other hand was stunned.

"I don't understand. Why would Günter want all of these aliases?"

"Not want, Hermione, _need_." Draco corrected. "Uncle Geoffrey specializes in many different types of fraud, and he prefers not to put all of his talents into one project. He's Geoffrey Günter one minute, and in the middle of the year changes to Yuri Jorgen or whoever he hasn't been in a while."

"But won't that draw attention to himself?" Hermione asked. "To have someone disappear for a year or two, maybe more, and then just come back..?"

"That's why when he's Jorgen, he handles projects under Philips. He still keeps them going in order to ward off suspicion."

"Like what you did? Keeping up that legal firm for Delaney while you were Darius Vaughn,"

Draco nodded. "Yes, much like that. But as you can see, Uncle Geoffrey has much more on his plate than I did."

"Merlin, I can't believe this." Hermione shook her head at it all. All ten aliases, plus the real Günter's file, were in Draco hands. "What did Christian want with all of these?"

Draco put Günter's files to a side and he ran his hands through his hair. "I don't think we should be worrying about that. The question we need to ask now is what does he _still_ want with them?"

* * *

 **Author's note:** And down the rabbit hole we go! Christian's just looking shadier and shadier as the story goes along, doesn't he? You can practically smell the trouble coming *sigh*

Thanks for reading!

-WP


	20. Ministry Appearances

Draco packed away more than half of Hermione's clothes without any protestation on her part. Christian was up to more dirty deeds than they had originally thought and Draco wanted to make sure that she was safe. Once her things were stowed away in two small trunks and Hermione put up as much security as possible around her house, they left.

Though both of them wanted to talk more about Christian –about those files, why would he want them in the first place and why he may still be using them –they decided against it. It was a lot for them to take in at one time, especially for Draco.

No, he wasn't someone who readily talked about his relationships, nor was he someone that was easy to figure out. But even with that, Hermione had managed to deduce that Günter was, _is_ , very close to him. As she and Draco lay in bed together that night, she couldn't help but flash back to what his childhood must've been like. All she had ever imagined of it was a passive mother who had unsuccessfully tried to show the love that his father wouldn't and a power-hungry father who had shown Draco how to manipulate and intimidate others.

But now there was Günter.

Hermione was sure that Günter had corrupted him somehow. Corrupted him in a way that produced a Malfoy who had feelings, who had a conscience, who knew how to make sacrifices but also keep what he loved. Had Günter not been in Draco's life, what would've happened that year ago when they were stuck together on an island fighting for their lives? A large part of her felt that he would've done it. Draco would've killed her without feeling and without a second thought. But she'll never forget how much it tormented him; to have to kill, and to be faced with a stubborn woman who wouldn't fight back so he could at the very _least_ justify himself and say that it was self-defense.

Yes, Günter was good for him. Unknown to her until now, he was good for Hermione too. And now she was even more against Christian than ever. First he tried taking Draco away from her, and now, it seemed, he was attempting to take Günter away from Draco. But for what reason? What purpose did it serve?

Those questions would have to be answered the next day, however. For now, it was time for nothing but sleep.

* * *

Hermione had walked into the Ministry the next day as though nothing was wrong. Had anyone the ability to give her heart a mouth, it would tell all and leave nothing out. She was an absolute wreck. The Ministry was the one place where she had felt safe and to know that Christian had been tainting it all this time was nerve-wracking. Who's to say that he wasn't there, now, Imperious-ing someone to do his bidding; an unwilling puppet who may very well be shaking her hand or telling her good morning?

Paranoia was what Christian was causing her at this moment, and it was quite the sick and most infectious disease. It caused her to lose all focus and outright bump into someone who she could've clearly avoided.

"Oh, I'm so s-sorry…" Hermione choked on her words. She would've dropped the coat she had slung over her arm had she not been so conscious that she was standing in the middle of a crowded lobby. She swallowed deeply and prayed that her uneasiness didn't show on her face. "I'm sorry… Jerry,"

Jerry smiled. He shook his head and waved it off. "It's fine. Are you alright? You don't look so good."

 _No, I'm not bloody alright. I don't know if you're really you!_ Hermione's mind screamed, but she put on a smile and casually shrugged. "Yes, I'm fine. Don't worry about it. My mind was just…elsewhere."

"As it always is," Jerry laughed. "You're such the thinker. Maybe you should take off early today? Just a friendly suggestion,"

Hermione stared down at her left shoulder in disgust and sickness as Jerry placed a hand on her shoulder. If it was truly Jerry, she mentally apologized for wanting to swat it away and display a few involuntary shivers. If it wasn't, she wished desperately that it was perfectly acceptable to curse someone out in the open.

Back in her office, Hermione's shoulder felt warmer than the other, and she couldn't help the nausea that overcame her every few minutes. As she sat with Draco later on that afternoon, she felt pathetic and sipped her tea while spitting out disapproving comments about herself.

"I don't understand it." Hermione frowned. "Not once have I ever been afraid of him and now I can't stop shaking."

"Maybe we shouldn't do this now."

Hermione looked down at her hand clasped in Draco's. He was concerned, as was she at this sudden phobia of the pest in her life, but this was no time for weakness. She shook her head and told him that they'd do it now.

"We haven't the time to waste whether I'm emotionally stable or not. Here they are."

Draco had told Hermione to bring the five files that they had yet to look over. She handed them to him and she watched as he glanced over each one.

"I don't know these four." Draco set aside four of the files, and Hermione slipped them into her bag. "But this one… I knew him very well."

Draco set the file down so Hermione could look at it. It was a relatively old file, about ten years old, and the photo showed a young man having newly reached adulthood. Hermione read the name at the top of the file.

"Ian Chase Whistt… Who was he?"

"A friend… A very good friend in fact." Draco sighed and closed the file so that Hermione could put it away. "As Uncle Geoffrey was a father to me, so was he to Ian. He trained us both."

"Hmm, another man out there just as dangerous as you? I don't think I like that much."

Draco chuckled. "It's funny that you should mention that. We were quite competitive, the pair of us. Whatever I did, Ian had to do better. But sometimes when he tried to outsmart me, it would backfire. Being zealous isn't a bad thing, Hermione, but overzealousness? That can entrap you. That's why when the illegal business that he, Uncle Geoffrey, and I had was found out, Ian and Ian alone got caught. He went to Azkaban for it."

"Did you ever visit him?"

"Once… As you can imagine, he wasn't too keen on seeing me. Didn't think it quite fair that he was in Azkaban while Uncle Geoffrey and I were running free."

"Well, I guess it's rather impossible now to take a trip there and see if Ian's still ticked with you." Hermione replied indifferently. Draco nodded and agreed.

"You're right. Especially because he escaped from Azkaban two months after I had seen him."

* * *

Hermione and Draco concluded that Christian took refuge in those files in order to find Draco. Günter was the main person who would know who Draco's alias was, and therefore the prime person to go after. It had worked of course, resulting in the storming of Darius Vaughn's condo and Hermione's trial. But since the conviction that Christian had been hoping for had come down to nothing and he had taken on a very vengeful state, he was going deeper. It was unsure how Christian had found out all of Günter's aliases, but he had. And to be sure, he had even dived into Draco's childhood and searched out friends. Granted that it was practically impossible to find Ian now, somehow Hermione thought that Christian would be the one with the ability to do it.

 _Maybe he thinks Draco broke Ian out of Azkaban all those years ago. So_ _ **of course**_ _Ian would know where and who Draco was now. They were_ _ **such**_ _good friends after all_.

Somehow, mocking Christian brought a bit of comfort to her. It even made her smile some. In fact almost anything would make her smile at this point. She had been jittery for a little more than a month now and these new unfolding events were adding to the paranoia and sickness.

Sighing, at the end of her shift and on her way to Draco's office, she stopped off in the women's bathroom. With a splash of water on her face and checking that her clothes were smoothed out properly, she was ready to go, but her blood ran cold when she heard a voice in her ear.

"You don't look very well, you know."

Hermione turned around on the spot, reaching for a wand that she wouldn't have for another two months. But even then she wouldn't have needed it. There was no one there. She officially deemed that she was losing her mind and held back the vomit that wanted to spill from her mouth.

Quickly she left the bathroom. Hermione walked down the corridors pretending that nothing odd had just happened to her. Draco was in a late meeting and told her that he'd meet her in her office. As she checked her watch she figured that he'd be coming to get her soon and smiled big when she saw that her desk chair was gently rocking back and forth as though someone were sitting in it.

"I was hoping your meeting would be over by the time I got back in here." Hermione grinned. "Let's get out of here and go home. I'd love to just curl up in bed right now."

"You're living with him now? Your relationship with Draco is moving quite quickly, don't you think?"

Christian turned the chair around so that he was fully facing her. Once again Hermione reached for her wand and swore when she remembered dismally that she didn't have it. Instead she stood her ground and angrily crossed her arms.

"Last I checked the Ministry hasn't welcomed you back. You shouldn't be here."

"Humph," Christian snorted and rose from Hermione's chair. "Well, the last time _I_ checked, it wasn't acceptable for Ministry employees to sleep with fugitives."

Hermione huffed and chose to ignore him. "You've been watching me."

"Says who?"

"My intuition. I've had this odd feeling for months and I knew that it had to be you. You're obsessed with me."

"Oh, please." Christian rolled his eyes. "Get a hold of yourself. I've got an obsession with catching Draco, and _you_ just happen to be in the way of that. It would've been so much easier if you had just given him up."

"I would've never done it." Hermione said proudly. "I could never do it."

"And forever guilty you'll be, because whether you want to believe it or not, you were guilty then, and you're guilty now." Christian took a few steps toward her and Hermione took the same amount of steps back. He noticed this, stopped, and crossed his arms. "You let him go. You hid his whereabouts _and_ his identity. I never understood why you were so against me. I was doing my _job_ , Hermione. If you hadn't been so sweet on him and hated him like you used to, you would've let me do what I was hired to. Hell, you would've helped me."

Hermione rubbed her shoulders up and down and took a hard swallow. No, she wouldn't agree with him though it was the truth. Part of it anyway. There was more than just liking Draco. It was the fact that they had gone through one of the most horrible experiences together. In her mind it was equal to the amount of Azkaban time he had left on the clock. Her decision may have been wrong in many ways considering who she was and who she worked for, but morally? Morally it was the best decision she could've ever made.

"It's not your job anymore, Christian." Hermione uncrossed her arms and held them at her sides. "Technically speaking, you don't work for the Ministry anymore, nor do I think they'd want you back. Your 'job' has become a vendetta, and a dangerous one at that. It won't end well."

Christian's eyes narrowed. "Are you threatening me?"

"If that's how you're interpreting my words, then so be it. But what I'm doing is warning you. You can't have him. I won't let you get near him. The fact that you want to catch him so badly is unnatural. It doesn't make sense."

"Of course it wouldn't. You don't know me." Christian smiled and then gently chuckled. "If you did, it would make all the sense in the world."

* * *

Christian left via Hermione's Floo. After that Hermione rushed from her office and straight to Draco's. She didn't knock nor did she wait to hear if there were any voices emanating from his office. Hopefully whoever was in there with him wouldn't be too concerned with the worried look on her face and start asking questions. The last thing that was needed was to involve people in this situation that didn't need to be.

"I'm so sorry to barge in like this, but I-"

"Shut the door quickly." Draco immediately ordered. His back had been turned to her when he said this, and with confusion she did what he said.

"Draco, what's going on?"

"How good are you with healing spells and potions?"

Hermione was perplexed. Draco still hadn't turned around to face her and he was hovered over his desk and staring intently at it. It was only when she got closer that Hermione realized that there was someone _laying_ on his desk who had been beaten terribly, almost near death it seemed.

"Who is this?" Hermione asked as she stood next to Draco. He took a deep breath and looked over at her.

"He got it good didn't he? You can barely recognize him. I did though… I'm one of the few people who could've."

Hermione took in the dismal tone of Draco's voice and the sadness in his eyes. She looked over at the unconscious man on the desk and soon realized who it was that had his eyes closed and was taking shallow breaths. She placed a hand over her mouth, removed it, and then gently rubbed Draco's back.

"Come on," She said softly. "Let's get Günter home."

* * *

 **Author's note:** Alright, so Christian's a little creepy and secretive, and Günter's been beaten to a pulp. Quite a bit in this chapter, but all this means is that we're leading up to the finale. It's a 24-chapter story so be on the lookout for explanations and resolutions :)

Thanks for reading!

-WP


	21. Christian's Helping Hand

Hermione told Draco about her confrontation with Christian the next morning. Whereas he was disheartened and quiet the previous night, he was furious and talking in rambles. Hermione wondered if he would be this upset if Günter hadn't stumbled through his fireplace a beaten mess during the night. Though Christian was a complete pain in the arse, Draco had always been calm about him. He showed concern, but never worried. He was the pinnacle of precise calculation and thought. But now..? Draco almost seemed reckless, worried about any and every little thing. He stayed that way for the entire week in fact, seeming to grow more and more agitated by the day as Günter laid motionless in bed. That's why Hermione had decided to keep quiet about what she had found out in the women's bathroom that Friday afternoon at the Ministry.

It wasn't that Hermione wasn't happy. Her mind just kept annoyingly flashing back to Christian's words: "Your relationship with Draco is moving quite quickly, don't you think?" It was true that Hermione had never fallen for someone so fast. Their living arrangement was only because Draco feared for her safety, but she highly doubted at the end of everything he would ask her to leave. After a little less than a year of infatuations with each other, three months officially being together, and near a month of living together, they would soon be a family.

It explained why the mere thought of Christian produced a churning in her stomach. "I guess you don't like him either, do you?" Hermione asked aloud, her eyes peering down at her stomach. To be honest, this wasn't how she planned things; and yes, being who she was, she had a life plan. She would be a late bride, a late mother, a late everything as she quite enjoyed her work. Be an active Auror until about thirty, by then also be married, though it didn't matter if it was newly married or if she'd been married at least two years before. After that she'd work on the first of three children, putting her child-bearing body to rest by the time she was thirty-seven the latest.

It was a good plan. It was one that she had had the intent of following completely, but of course Hermione should've known better. _Nothing_ goes according to plan. Draco certainly wasn't a part of her plan, and it was quite the lovely surprise. And yes, finding out that she was pregnant was a lovely surprise as well. Hermione only wished that it had come at a time where she and Draco weren't being hunted and there weren't so many unanswered questions.

She had gone to a Healer during her lunch break, telling Draco that she couldn't make their lunch date that afternoon. Healer Davis told her specifically _no stress_ , but having an unstable man watching your every move was hardly a stress free environment. Having a comatose person laying in a guest bedroom wasn't a calming thing either. Normally Hermione would have Draco ease her fears, but telling him about this now would be his ultimate death sentence. He'd be even more frantic and wouldn't allow Hermione do anything that concerned Christian. He wouldn't want her or the baby to get hurt. A sweet gesture, yes, but Hermione would rather pitch herself off of something than sit on the sidelines. She wouldn't let Draco battle this situation alone. A calm attack would be made on her part; the perfect way to continue on the fight and keep her baby safe. If that didn't work, then Hermione would have to send someone to fight in her stead.

* * *

Hermione and Draco tag-teamed things on Saturday. It was decided long before that someone should be home to stay with Günter in case he woke up. During the week it was harder for Hermione to leave her post at the Ministry, but since Draco was only a part-time worker he was able to spend most of his time at home. Now that it was the weekend they held dual responsibility. Hermione got to leave the apartment first while Draco stayed at home. She felt that she had been neglecting Harry and Ron lately and decided to have breakfast with them. By noon she was back at home and Draco was slinging on a semi-heavy coat in order to head out.

"I won't be long." He told her, gave her a quick kiss and left by Floo. At that moment Hermione envied him. Not for the fact that she was left home to literally _babysit_ someone, but at Draco's ability to handle so many things at once. He was off for a few hours in order to handle some business under his third, and final, alias. He had to keep it active, he told Hermione, and she wondered how exactly he was doing so. Though he didn't want to keep secrets from her, who Draco's last alias was he couldn't say.

"In case things turn out for the worst, it's best if you don't know." Draco explained. Though it hit a sore spot with her, Hermione accepted it. She supposed she understood. She defied laws once when Draco was Darius Vaughn, and she was doing it again. If it so happens that the Samuel Delaney alias falls apart, Draco would fall onto his last option. He and Hermione had talked about the consequences of that happening and neither of them liked the idea. It would leave them both living on two different continents, both of them forever pining for the person they couldn't have.

Sighing, Hermione chose to read a book in order to rid herself of dismal thoughts. She had been reading for about an hour before she decided to get up and check on Günter. _Pointless…_ She thought to herself. Christian had done quite the number on him, and she wouldn't have been surprised if he never woke up. What she and Draco would do with him then, she hadn't a clue, but whatever the appropriate course of action, she knew it would destroy Draco to do it.

Hermione reached the guest bedroom prepared to become encumbered with a load of sympathy, but instead of that she was struck with surprise. The bed where Günter had been laying on all week was empty.

"Günter..?" Hermione called. She checked the guest bedroom's private bathroom and found it empty. She left it and the bedroom in order to search the rest of the apartment. Every part of it was empty and Hermione suddenly began to panic. Had someone snuck in and kidnapped him without her notice? How the _hell_ could that have been accomplished?

Hermione rushed from the back of the apartment to the front. She stopped suddenly when she caught a glimpse of Günter. She breathed a sigh of relief at seeing him there, but then gasped when she saw that his unstable walking had caused him to trip over his feet and tumble to the floor.

"You shouldn't be walking around." Hermione scolded as she helped him up. "You were beaten very badly."

"…I didn't know where I was." Günter said as he was moved from the floor to the sofa. "I had to be sure it was somewhere safe."

"I'd think the best way to find that out would be to wait to see who came into the bedroom to tend to you, not go venturing around somewhere you didn't know, _hurt_ , and without a wand."

Günter was silent for a moment, laughed, winced, and then laughed some more. "Usually I'm the one doing the teaching, not sitting down for a lesson."

Hermione gave a gentle smile. "There's a first time for everything."

"Yes, of course there is. I take it this is Draco's apartment. And you're here…visiting?"

"Living," Hermione blushed. Her whole face turned red as Günter began to smile broadly.

"I said that you'd love him one day."

"I never denied that I would. Though, however good it is being here, I didn't end up living here exactly under good circumstances. Draco wanted to make sure that I was safe. As you put it not so long ago, Christian's been watching me. I take it that he's the one who did this to you?"

Günter nodded. "Snuck up on me, he did. Quite frankly, I'm a bit ashamed of myself. It shouldn't have happened. As you recall, I'm quick on my feet. I didn't think I'd meet someone who'd be quicker, not to mention cleverer. It hit the pride a bit, if you will."

"Yes, well, as insensitive as it may sound, you can't be in the prime of your life _all_ your life. How did you manage to make it to Draco's office? It would've been hard for you to move a finger, let alone Floo."

"It wasn't too hard. Christian did this to me in the Ministry."

Hermione was surprised. "The Ministry..? But how..? Surely, someone must've heard what was going on? None of this could've been done quietly."

"He shoved me into one of the holding cells. While I was getting to my feet, Christian soundproofed everything and then gave his mouth quite the exercise with all the spells and curses he threw at me."

"I've told the Ministry over and over again that there needs to be more security down there. Anything can happen… But hold on a second, what were you doing in the Ministry at all?"

"Watching over Draco." Günter said plainly. "He had been down in the holding cells, and I was in the shadows."

"And Christian had been down there lurking in the shadows as well?"

"Yes. You haven't seen Christian in many months, Miss Granger. He's very unstable-"

"I know how unstable he is. I saw him. Draco and I both did. He's worse than I've ever seen him and…there's something you need to know about him." Hermione took a deep breath and took out the folders she had nicked from Christian's office that she had stuffed underneath the sofa's cushions. "Christian knows all of your aliases. I don't know what he wants with them or how he even found them out, but-"

"He knows them because I told him."

Hermione, confusion written all over her face, waited for Günter to continue. He was looking through the files, set his aliases aside, then with four of the five files left in his hands, held the final one tightly.

"As I told Draco, I told him as well. I told him about them long ago. About ten years if I'm not mistaken; at a time when he was young and rash, eager and competitive, and still looked like this."

Günter turned the file that was in his hands around so that Hermione could see it. She wasn't as confused as her face let on, but kept her facial expression as such because it just _couldn't_ be. She stared from the photograph to Günter and back again before the file was set on the coffee table photograph-side up.

"Roughly ten years ago, the Christian Matthews you know now used to be Ian Chase Whistt; Draco's good friend, and my mentee."

* * *

Draco came home before Hermione could give any sort of rebuttal to what Günter had just revealed. She sat there in awe and trying to fill in the pieces while Draco was all smiles at seeing his pseudo-father awake and sitting upright. They began talking, catching up on the gossip they had been missing out on all the while Hermione broke her silence with an overwhelming and much delayed response.

" _What!_ "

Draco turned to Hermione in surprise, while Günter's face turned to its let's-get-back-down-to-business expression.

"How on _earth_ could Christian be that Whistt guy?!"

Draco's face fell. "What!" He turned to Hermione for an explanation, but got one from Günter instead.

"That's what we were talking about before you arrived home. Christian is Ian's alias."

"That _can't_ be possible. Do you realize how _ridiculous_ that sounds?"

"You may not want to believe it, but it's true." Günter insisted. "Face the facts. Why else would Christian be so obsessed with catching you? It's not because he's got a great track record as an Auror and didn't want to fail, Draco. Ian was and _still is_ infuriated with you because of what happened all those years ago."

"And the two of you are best friends then, are you?" Draco snapped. "The _two of us_ escaped Azkaban, not just me."

"I know that. It's evident that he's not exactly good to me either. He nearly killed me, remember?"

Draco began to stare at Günter oddly. He crossed his arms and nodded slowly. "Yes. He _nearly_ killed you, and you and I both know how rare that is of Ian. To start a job and not finish, that is. Tell me, what did it benefit Ian to keep you alive?"

"A life for a life."

Draco's jaw clenched meanwhile Hermione put two and two together. She turned to Günter with her brows knitted together. "You don't mean to say that _you_ helped him to escape Azkaban, do you?"

"That's _exactly_ what he means." Draco said angrily. "I don't know what's more frustrating –the fact that you helped Ian get out of Azkaban, that you knew that he was Christian all this time, or the fact that you'd help him, but when _I_ landed in Azkaban, you didn't lift a finger to help."

"You wouldn't have allowed it." Günter argued. "The moment I even _hinted_ at the idea of helping you escape, you would've turned me down."

"That's not the point. You didn't even try."

Hermione sat staring at Draco and Günter in amazement. Draco was the maddest she had ever seen him and Günter looked resentful. It was an unbearable scene and she cleared her throat so the men could take their focus off of each other.

"It doesn't matter what was or wasn't done. Everything is out in the open now and we need to figure out what to do with Christian –uh, _Ian_. At the moment I think-"

"Later," Draco interrupted. "Günter looks like he could use some more rest."

Hermione frowned as Draco walked pass them and deeper into the apartment. She sighed and simultaneously let out a small burp and a fit of nausea. With a silent moan to herself she stood and offered to walk Günter back to bed.

"He won't stay mad at you for long." Hermione said quietly. "Though I can't blame him for how he feels. You picked sides. The _wrong_ side as I'm sure you can see now."

"Draco and Ian were as close to frenemies as two people could get." Günter sighed, choosing to ignore what Hermione said. "They fed off of beating one another in everything they did, including gaining my attention."

"Well, congratulations. You just proved that Ian's been on top for years."

* * *

 **Author's note:** Well, most of you have been hinting at this for AGES, but it's finally out in the open now! Christian is Ian, and I'm sure that helps put this whole thing in perspective for you. And then there's Hermione quite unexpected bundle of joy. What's a story without a few bumps in the road :)

Thanks for reading!

-WP


	22. Stories and Hard Decisions

Draco felt betrayed. He thought he had a friend in Günter –a father. But it turned out that Günter had done what parents weren't supposed to do: pick a favorite. Hermione tried to tell Draco that that wasn't what had happened. It had nothing to do with favorites. He didn't buy this of course, and Hermione hardly expected him to. She herself didn't even buy it. Instead of trying to cheer him up further, Hermione proposed that they went to bed early that night and dealt with everything tomorrow. Draco agreed and quickly hopped into bed, finding Hermione's arms the biggest comfort in the world.

Once Hermione was sure that Draco was sound asleep, she unraveled herself from him and stealthily left the bedroom. She tiptoed her way to the guest bedroom, perfectly prepared to see an empty bed for she hadn't expected Günter to stay. He _had_ been Ian's pet all this time, so why lose the position?

Surprisingly Günter was still there. He wasn't sleeping, having preferred to just sit up in bed and stare at nothing in particular. He turned to the door when it eased open, and instead of asking what Hermione was doing there, he motioned to a spot near the end of the bed where she eventually ended up sitting down.

"Tell me everything." Hermione ordered, and Günter did just that. The business that he, Draco, and Ian had running was lucrative. It was so successful that of course it would catch the attention of the Ministry. They kept their shoppe underground, beneath Knockturn Alley, but that wasn't enough to keep Aurors away. It got raided, and while Günter and Draco escaped Ian got caught.

"He was the one Aurors were after. Not Draco and not me."

Apparently as a youth Ian was reckless. He rushed things in the excitement of it and forgot to be careful. He hadn't done a good job watching his tracks whereas Günter did, because he was experienced, and Draco did, because he listened to his mentor and was taught to do so by his father from birth.

A trial took place and Ian's lawyer did his best to get him tried as a minor. It was a difficult thing to do, however. Aside from the fact that at seventeen he was considered an adult, no "minor" could pull off something so elaborate. If he had the mind of an adult, he should be judged as one as well. Because of this Ian was sentenced to eight years in Azkaban; an easy sentence seeing that he was young. Two months later Günter and Draco paid him a visit. Naturally, he wasn't too happy to see them.

"You should be here too." Günter recalled Ian saying. Ian had felt cheated. They were supposed to be in this together, not just him alone. Draco, at the age of not having much patience for anything that didn't directly benefit him, wasn't ready to settle and give him pity. He reminded Ian of the rules. _You get caught it's your arse, not anyone else's_.

Draco was ruthless. He was sorry that his good friend had gotten arrested, tried, and was now stuck in Azkaban. But was it _his_ fault that Ian didn't know how to watch himself? "If it was me, I'd suck it up and take it like a man."

Draco stalked off then, but Günter stayed a little while longer. He stayed long enough to make a promise –a promise that was fulfilled the following month. Ian of course didn't think that his dear ole Uncle Geoffrey could do it. He was a brilliant man, yes, but escaping Azkaban was impossible. On that note Günter agreed, which was why the attempted escape wouldn't be made on Azkaban territory.

A little bit of stalking was necessary. A Polyjuice Potion was a must as well. Proper understanding of wizard law (of which Günter had) and a reason for Ian's lawyer to see his client was also mandatory. Soon enough Ian was sitting in a holding cell in Azkaban and, with the okay from Günter, had "stolen" his lawyer's wand, cursed him with it, and fled the premises with his amazingly fast feet.

Ian laid low for a month, using one of Günter's aliases. But of course, Ian would need an alias of his own. They were in the process of making one for him when the raid had happened, so they would have to start anew. Ian already had a few ideas of his own, preferring to have an alias that had a good academic standing and generally looked like a kiss-arse on paper.

"I want to train to be an Auror." Ian had told Günter, which had always struck him as odd until recently. To have just newly escaped from Azkaban and to create an alias that would send him among the wolves? It was risky and downright foolish, but Ian insisted. And so, Christian Matthews was born. The letters were an anagram of Ian's whole name –Ian Chase Whistt, with three unused letters. Not entirely a smart move, Günter had pointed out, though he doubted anyone would notice. Who would really decide to pick apart someone's name just for the hell of it?

Three months after getting out of Azkaban, Ian was Christian and starting his Auror training program. The time for him and Günter to separate was at hand. Being seen together could pose problems, not to mention Draco was constantly wondering where his Uncle Geoffrey kept disappearing off to. He hated lying to Draco, but he knew what the young man's response would be to all of this. It was best that he was kept in the dark.

And while Draco was busy with his scheming ways, Günter purposefully lost contact with Ian who had successfully become an Auror. He spent seven years working for the Ministry of Magic in England, catching criminal after criminal, all who used aliases. He was _gifted_ in catching those who used aliases, but was it really a gift? Beneath that Christian shell, was Ian, a criminal who knew other criminals and their secrets. Did he _really_ have a knack for this sort of thing, or did he just already know who was who and what they were doing?

It was a wonderful ploy, and Ian generously sucked in the glory of being the best Auror England could have. And of course being the best meant catching the most wanted criminals. So how happy was he when a photo of Draco crossed his path? No, he hadn't forgotten that little backstabber. Turned out Draco was quite the con man, not that Ian had expected anything less of him. Ian wanted to be the one to catch Draco. He wanted to be the one to bind his hands behind his back and see to it that he ended up in the very worst cell in Azkaban.

He never got the chance, however. Harry effing Potter had managed to get to Draco first. It was fitting. Enemies for years and justice had finally rained down. After that there was no reason for Ian to stay in England. What was his purpose? He went for a new change of scenery after that and chose to go to Australia. He continued to build up his reputation by catching criminals who had no idea who he truly was while he was beautifully content that Draco was slowly rotting in Azkaban.

"Until that game show," Günter sighed. "Ian was furious over it."

Draco had been put away to where he belonged and now he was out? Ian was ready to go off with wands blazing, but then he started watching the show. There were seven people there who could kill him, and his money had been on Hermione Granger. Potter had caught him. Granger would kill him. It seemed only fair. Hadn't Ian's life gone horribly? Wasn't it time for something to go his way for once? Apparently not since Draco didn't die during that game. At the end of the day, Draco had managed to escape and Ian knew that it was Hermione bloody Granger's fault. She ruined _everything_. Instead of allowing the hatred she had for Draco to swallow her up, she grew pity and compassion and let Draco go. All that Ian had hoped for was gone in a flash.

He had to find him. Ian had to put an end to it. He had to fix what had gone wrong. His first step was to get back to the Ministry in England. They would be frantic looking for Draco, and why wouldn't they want "Christian Matthew's" help? He was the best wizard catcher there was. They would certainly want his help, but he had to be patient. If there was one thing his Uncle Geoffrey had taught him, it was to have patience. Ian painfully waited. He would wait for the Ministry to realize that they couldn't do this on their own. That's when Ian would offer his assistance.

It was the perfect plan with the right amount of motivation behind it. There was even more motivation when he caught sight of something at the Wizard Hotel in Australia the morning after a rendezvous with a pretty young woman: Hermione Granger stealthily tugging her luggage behind her and trying to find a non-crowded place. Ian was curious, not to mention still had a sore spot for the woman who had obviously let Draco go. He kept an eye on her and saw that she held a portkey in her hand that whisked her away in seconds. He hadn't known what that meant then, but as time went on, he knew.

Hermione knew the story from this point on. Ian had been on her the moment she came back to work after her sabbatical and simply thinking about it made her angry. What she wanted to know now was what happened when Günter had been arrested. How did it feel seeing one another again after so long?

"I couldn't show it, but I was impressed and happy."

The interview Ian had with Günter had to be legit. Aside from the fact that he was doing his job as an Auror, Hermione had been in the other room listening to every word and watching every gesture. But when Hermione had been arrested some few months later and Ian interviewed Günter a second time in order to make the deal that let him go, that's when they talked. No one was watching then. They had expressed words of gratitude, and Ian told him his story, the same story that Günter was telling Hermione now.

Ian had always known Darius Vaughn was Draco's alias. He had created it before Ian was sent to Azkaban. But of course he couldn't have barged right in to arrest Draco because of what he _knew_. Ian had to prove it. Ian wanted Günter's clothes in order to do the Imprint Test, and as Hermione knew, Günter had done it.

Hermione felt angry all over again and now even more so. "You could've said no. You had protected Ian long enough. Why couldn't you protect Draco?"

"…I apologized for it." Günter said softly, and Hermione regretfully nodded. Yes, he apologized. He had come down to her cell to do so. He had come down to her cell to also get an Imprint off of her.

Frustratingly, Hermione stood. "You're weak to him. You'd do anything for Ian. Why do you shut Draco out? Why don't you help him too?"

"I don't help Draco because he doesn't need it. Draco's strong. He knows what he's doing. He doesn't need some old man teaching him tricks. Ian… He on the other hand is the one who's weak. Leave him to it with no direction and he'll become reckless. Look at what's happened already. Whereas Draco is tactful, Ian is rash. He's _dangerous_ , Hermione. The reason I'm here laying in a bed, damned near crippled is because I refused to help Ian anymore. He stopped listening to me. I can't help those who won't listen."

"So that's it then?" Hermione huffed. "You've turned to Draco because Ian's not your obedient little student anymore?"

"Yes… That and the fact that Ian's gone too far." Günter sighed and took a deep breath. "He won't get satisfaction from sending Draco to Azkaban. The only way for that is to kill him. I can't and I won't allow it."

* * *

The morning was fierce. There was so much tension in the apartment that it was almost unbearable. Hermione made breakfast for Günter which he had no choice but to eat in his room, while she and Draco had theirs in the kitchen as they were accustomed to doing. Small talk was made, but nothing much. Hermione knew that Draco was still mad at what happened the previous night, but he had no idea what was making _her_ upset now. Her little talk with Günter had been a secret mission, one to help put things in perspective for her so that she could properly understand. She didn't know that it would make her bitter.

But either way, all negative emotions toward one another had to be put aside. They had stopped their scheming and their plans for a night, but there was no doubt that Ian hadn't. He was constantly in motion and now the three of them had to spend the morning catching up and figuring out what to do.

"So, Ian wants to kill me now, does he?" Draco sucked his teeth and crossed his arms. "Usually when he sets a certain punishment on someone he doesn't change his mind."

"You're a special case in his eyes, Draco."

"Oh, I'm sure I am."

"Günter, do you know how Ian was planning to do it?" Hermione asked. "How he was going to lure Draco out so he could kill him off?"

Günter looked uneasy. With the little mobility that his body could give him, he wriggled in his seat. He looked up at Hermione and sighed. "You… He was going to use you."

" _Me?_ Kidnap me, you mean? So Draco could come save me."

"That's right. You don't know this but that banishment from the Ministry was never any good. He's been impersonating a number of Ministry employees in order to keep an eye on you. To find the opportune moment to get to you."

"We're not as oblivious as you think." Draco addressed him. "We know he's been impersonating a security guard, and the entrances they use aren't up to the same security measures as for everyone else. Getting in wouldn't be a problem. On the other hand, the other employees you're suggesting can't be possible. The kind of security used for them would've kept him out. Ian's still Ian, Polyjuice potion or not."

"Unless there was someone helping Ian to get around them." Hermione frowned and turned to Günter. She had been calm for the past fifteen or so minutes, but suddenly became irritated yet again. "I believe you once told me that you were good at disabling magical security, did you not?"

As Günter grew a shameless face, Draco's grew red from anger. He crossed his arms and took a deep breath to steady himself. "And the list just gets longer, doesn't it?"

"Draco, I-"

"Stop," Hermione interrupted. "Let's not go down this road again. I think we've established that somehow or another Ian was planning to get to me at the Ministry. Whether he'd hold me hostage there or somewhere else, I don't know. After that, he'd let Draco know and then spells would be thrown until one of you were dead. And now I think that we have to come to terms with the fact that this won't stay quiet."

Draco furrowed his brow in confusion. "How do you mean?"

"I mean that I don't doubt this will turn out in our favor. But when it does who'll believe it? It's an incredible story; one that can't be told without…" Hermione sighed. She turned a pair of sad eyes to Draco and continued. "One that can't be told without divulging who you are. Ian needs a reason to kill you; one that'll stick. Only the truth can do that."

Hermione had turned her gaze to the floor. The silence in the room was thicker than the tension and no one spoke for a while. Günter most assuredly wasn't speaking because it wasn't his place. Hermione and Draco weren't speaking because they knew what giving up his alias would do to them. They had talked about it. Hermione was a two-time liar when it came to Draco. The outing of alias number one put doubts on her where others were concerned, and the outing of alias number two would certainly bring more upon her and diminish trust close to nothing. It would be in their best interest, though neither of them wanted it, that if it came down to it Hermione and Draco would go their separate ways.

They both wanted the best for each other. Hermione wanted Draco to have a life full of peace and freedom. Draco wanted the same for her which also included being free from suspicion. Any man after alias number two that came into her life would automatically be thought of being Draco, using another alias, just to be with the one he loved. Draco didn't want that for her, and neither wanted to live life under scrutiny.

With sadness in his voice, Draco finally spoke. His voice the softest Hermione had ever heard it. "Who do we tell first?"

"Harry and Ron," Hermione answered, holding back a tear or two. "They can help us get Ian. After that…then I suppose everyone."

* * *

 **Author's note:** So, this ends on a bit of a sad note. Draco can't hide anymore so it looks like both he and Hermione are screwed. Darn Ian!

And on another note, just so you're not blind-sided, this story will finish on chapter 24. The big show-down is on the way :)

-WP


	23. Plans and Unforeseen Events

Later on that afternoon Hermione and Draco went over to see Harry and Ron. They were happy for the surprise visit, but then that surprise turned to concern when they saw the look of their faces. Hermione and Draco had thought of a number of ways to break the news to them of what was going on. It was a tale to last for hours if told the right way and with the right amount of necessary detail. They had gone through various scenarios and ways to describe the conspiracy that was going on underneath everyone's noses, but it seemed better, especially with the little time they had to play with, to tell Harry and Ron the fastest and most blunt way possible.

"You've got to be kidding me, Hermione!" Ron shouted. Hermione bit her lip and turned to Draco who no longer looked like Samuel Delaney. "I take back _everything_ I said about him being a damned good lawyer. Merlin, tell me I'm dreaming."

"Hermione, you were in trouble before, but do you realize how much you could be in _now_?" Harry asked her. He ran a hand through his hair and took a deep breath.

"It only got that way because of Christian." Hermione explained. "And when I tell you what more is going on, you'll understand why."

Despite Ron wanting to throttle Draco, and Harry arguing with Hermione that this was absolutely ridiculous, Hermione and Draco got them to settle down and listen to them. They explained everything from beginning to end, starting off with who Ian was, how Günter was involved, and how Christian Matthews became the best Auror around with an obvious obsession with Draco. By the end of it Harry and Ron were calmed significantly. Instead of their surprise at what Draco was doing there and why Hermione was doing something so against her job description, they were trying to figure out what to do next.

"It's obvious isn't it? We let Ian take me."

"No," all three men in the room insisted. Hermione stared at them all in amazement, feeling rather proud that they were able to find something to agree upon.

"It's too dangerous." Draco argued. "Ian's unstable as hell already. Who knows what he'll do to you while he's waiting for me to come save you."

"So it's settled then, he's not going to get to you." Ron said contentedly and folded his arms about his chest.

"Okay then, if Ian's not going to take me, then how else is he going to get Draco?"

"He won't." Harry answered. "We'll get to Ian first."

* * *

It was completely impossible to fight three against one, and besides, Hermione was too tired to fight. She felt exhausted and all she really wanted to do was sleep. The men were right. It was better that she stayed out of the picture, but not for the reasons of keeping her safe that they were pushing at her. Sighing, she had left them about a half an hour ago so that Harry, Ron, and Draco could strategize. Very uncharacteristic of herself, Hermione had counted herself out and gone to lie down. She had drifted off to sleep some, but nothing too major. She heard when her temporary bedroom door had opened and smiled when she saw Harry. She patted the side of her bed and motioned for him to come over.

"What's wrong?" He asked as he lay down next to her. "I doubt you're upset because we won't let you be a guinea pig."

Hermione laughed. "No, that's not it. I just… Harry, would you believe me if I said that I loved him?"

Harry looked at her softly and took her hand. "You'd have to in order to do what you've done. To hide him these two times."

"Yes," She nodded. "Of course I would've. We were happy, Harry. You could look at us and see that. And now he's going to be taken away from me. From us…"

"Us..?"

Hermione looked up at him and slowly nodded as she blinked back tears. " _Us_ ,"

Silence lingered in the air as Harry stared at his dear friend and pondered her words carefully. He then stared at her wide-eyed and sat up in the bed. "Are you saying that you're…?"

Hermione nodded.

"Does he…?"

Hermione shook her head and sat up in bed just as he had.

"You have to tell him."

"No," She said indefinitely. "At the end of all of this Draco's going to leave. He'll disappear just like we discussed. He won't want to go if he knows. He _needs_ to go."

"Hermione," Harry frowned and took her other hand in his. "You do know that when this is all over, Malfoy can't just _leave_. I'll have to take him in. He's still a fugitive, you know."

"All the more reason not to tell him. To torture him with knowing that he has a child that he can't watch grow up for nine years –more than that after all the laws he's broken while roaming about… It wouldn't be fair.

'Oh, but you have to promise me something, Harry. When this is all over _please_ don't just do your job. You have to get Draco off the hook. Shorten his Azkaban sentence, _something_. In your heart you know it's the right thing to do."

"In my heart, yes, but the legal system isn't about what your heart feels, 'Mione. You know that better than anyone."

"Then say that you'll at least try. You'll try for me?"

"Yes, I'll try." Harry nodded. "But if I can't?"

"Then promise _me_ something, Potter."

Harry and Hermione turned their gazes from each other to the door where Draco was leaning against the door frame. "Promise me that when I disappear again, you don't try to find me."

* * *

Merlin was on Hermione's side at allowing Draco to only hear the last part of her and Harry's conversation. She could only shiver at the thought of what would be happening now if he had heard the whole thing. Instead, she was taking a pair of scissors to her hair and giving herself horrible bangs that lay gently on her forehead. The hair that she had snipped off she was being slipped into a Polyjuice Potion and stirred in, watching the brew turn a golden-yellowish color.

"It could look worse." Ron smiled as he peered into the caldron. Hermione nodded and stopped stirring. She kept her eyes peering into the caldron because she didn't want to see Ron's eyes. He was smiling, yes, but his eyes showed sympathy. Naturally, Hermione thought that if Harry should know about her pregnancy then Ron should too. He also thought that she should tell Draco, but her decision had been made clear and final. Neither of her friends tried dissuading her anymore. Because of that every time either of them looked at her it seemed like they were ready to put their arms around her and pull her into a tight hug.

 _Merlin, bless them…_ Hermione smiled to herself.

"Is it ready yet?" Draco asked as he stood next to Ron. Hermione nodded and pulled out several flasks.

"Yes. Each flask should be able to give you eight hours; enough for a single work day. You can start on the next flask once you're at my house. And _please_ you guys, don't let me come back to find chocolate frogs hopping around just because you couldn't bite their legs off fast enough."

Harry and Ron laughed. They said no promises which meant Hermione could foresees the scene she'd go back home to should everything turn out okay. The plan was simple. To Draco's surprise Hermione had agreed without protest to stay at his apartment and receive information second hand. If Ian was out to get Hermione, he wasn't going to get the real one. Draco would go on about his daily activities as though nothing was wrong. Harry and Ron would take turns drinking Polyjuice Potion and going to work in Hermione's stead; basically living her life. A rumor would float to ensure Ian knew that Hermione had resumed living at home and not with Draco. When Ian decided to strike, he'd walk right into a war waiting to happen.

Simple…

And yet Hermione couldn't help but think that it was too simple. Too easy. Ian was a complicated man. Perhaps he was too complicated to be caught in such an easy ploy? Whether it was true or not, it didn't matter. Draco, Hermione, and Ron had spent the night with Harry. Everyone would be departing from one place this morning: Draco, Harry, and Ron (who was disguised as Hermione for the day) off to their prospective work stations. Hermione said goodbye to them all, wished them luck, and Flooed back to Draco's apartment.

The moment she got there, Hermione felt anxious. It wasn't often that she sat on the sidelines. To be waiting and wondering for good news or bad news wasn't a pleasant day. At least some of it would be alleviated once Draco arrived home. But of course that was a full eight hours away.

Sighing, Hermione travelled throughout the house and to Günter's bedroom. He had taken up spending most of his time in his room. Partly because it comforted him, but mostly because he couldn't look Draco in the face and because Draco had preferred that he didn't. Though Hermione wasn't particularly fond of him at the moment, she still paid him random visits to see if he wanted or needed anything. And yet as she pushed open Günter's bedroom door, Hermione realized that what he wanted she couldn't give.

"Sneaking out, are we?"

Günter hesitated and stopped. He stood in the middle of the room with a small rucksack slung across his shoulder. He was fully dressed, coat and all, and obviously ready to disapparate.

"I was hoping to be gone before you returned."

"Clearly," Hermione huffed. "But perhaps it's best that you go. You've caused more harm than good anyway."

Günter nodded with a solemn face. "More harm than you know."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Tell me something, Miss Granger. Do you really think that Ian hasn't been watching Potter and Weasley as well? A wise choice having them impersonate you, but a plan like that would only work in ordinary circumstances. A man like Ian watches and learns. But then again, Draco does as well. I don't doubt that he'll fail."

With that Günter disapparated. Hermione was left with a wild thump in her chest as she contemplated his words. _I don't doubt that he'll fail_. Exactly who was he talking about? Ian or Draco? At that moment she didn't think it mattered. All she knew was that she didn't feel safe. She didn't know where she would go, having now found out that Ian had his eyes on Harry and Ron as well, but anywhere was better than where she was.

Hermione quickly fled the bedroom and headed into hers and Draco's. She couldn't leave without letting Draco know where he could find her. She'd hide the note somewhere Ian wouldn't look and then go. Maybe to her parents' place..?

"Definitely lowers the risk of an attack being in a muggle place." Hermione muttered to herself and then let out a sudden gasp as she saw Ian, still in his Christian disguise, standing in the middle of the room.

"Got to love Uncle Geoffrey," Ian smiled and brandished his wand.

* * *

 **Author's note:** Apologies for the late chapter! Christmas shopping all day, every day…

I feel so sorry for Hermione and Draco. More so for Hermione who has to shoulder this secret just so Draco can escape without anything holding him back. And of course, there's Geoffrey. I'm sure you all hate him something fierce.

Next week will be the last chapter folks! Thanks for sticking it out with me :)

-WP


	24. Forgetting for the Better

"You brought this on yourself, you know. Why couldn't you be a good little Auror and do your job?"

Hermione was seething. She sat on a chair Ian stole from the kitchen, desperately trying to get her hands free but knowing it was futile. Her wrists were bound to the arms of the chair and her legs were bound together by the ankles.

"Had you not let him go, I'd still be in Australia, living according to society."

"For how long I wonder?" Hermione questioned. "Draco would've gotten out eventually. He had nine more years left on his sentence. What would've happened then? Would you have still gone after him."

"Would it have mattered if I did?" Ian gave a curt laugh and twirled his wand between his fingers. "You two wouldn't have been together. Hell, by then you could've fallen in love and married some other man. Draco wouldn't have mattered to you. But of course, that's not the reality we're in at the moment, is it?"

Hermione watched as Ian walked across the room. She attempted to free her hands once again, but did nothing but bruise the skin. She glanced at the clock that hung nearby. Ian had knocked her unconscious after she had stumbled upon him. Plenty of time had passed from then and now, and Hermione knew that Draco would be home soon.

"…Do you remember?"

Ian turned to Hermione's voice with a furrowed brow. "Remember what, exactly?"

"What your true face looks like? Ian."

" _What did you call me?_ "

Hermione began to smile. All the confidence that Ian had held quickly fell as his face immediately turned to alarm. "I called you Ian. What's wrong? Forgotten your name? It's understandable, I suppose. You haven't used it in quite some time.."

Ian advanced on her. He lowered his face so it was completely level with hers. Hermione was startled to realize that his eyes resembled Draco's whenever he was infuriated.

"Who else knows?"

"Only those who need to know."

Ian breathed angrily and tore himself away from her. He ran a hand through his hair and stared at her harshly, almost as though he was contemplating on killing her right then and there. "Of course you would've found out. You're Hermione effing Granger. Still the bright, meddling witch all these years down the line. How'd you do it?"

"I had help in getting the truth." Hermione lifted her chin proudly. "Got to love Uncle Geoffrey, right?"

"He'd never betray me."

"A con man is a con man last I checked. They have no loyalties."

"He has loyalties to _me_!" Ian shouted. "He _owes_ me!"

"He owes you nothing, Ian."

Those very words Hermione would've spoken herself had Draco not done it. There were two fireplaces within the apartment. The one towards the back of the place was the one most used so as not to track soot in the living room. Hermione now saw that it served perfectly for being discrete in trying to sneak up on a lunatic.

"Ah, Draco," Ian smiled taunting and stuffed a hand into his pocket. "Good of you to join us. Long day working, yes..?"

"Long enough… You okay, Hermione?"

Hermione nodded and noticed how Ian rolled his eyes at the pair of them.

"You need to leave her out of this, Ian." Draco stood between him and Hermione. "This has nothing to do with her."

"Oh, it didn't before, but it certainly does now. She made this situation a hell of a lot more difficult. But it's alright now."

"Of course it is. You finally have the opportunity to kill me. Over nothing,"

" _Nothing_..? The opportunity to kill you over _nothing_..? You left me!" Ian snapped. "'You get caught, you rot.' That's what you said to me."

"And you seem to forget that you were the one to issue those words first." Draco shot back. "The only difference is that with me, the charges didn't stick."

"Pfft, so what..? Two years I spent in Azkaban for you. And when I get back, what do I find? You and Uncle Geoffrey happily making money together."

"And you had to get me back for that?" Draco rolled his eyes. "Just like a child… Jealous that someone was more successful than you,"

"A success that you robbed me of, but we're about to be even."

Ian made no attempt to curse Draco, but instead turned his wand in Hermione's direction. Draco quickly jumped in front of her and deflected it. Ian was scowling. He sent a Stunning Spell which became deflected again, hitting nothing but a painting on the wall which blew itself to pieces. Ian had disapparated and appeared behind Hermione. A curse in the back knocked Draco forward and the next thing Hermione knew, she could feel Ian's wand pressed against her throat.

"Make one effort to curse me and I kill her." Ian breathed. Hermione swallowed and hated the feel of Ian's wand move against her throat. He was swift, and it was assured that once Draco made any movement Ian would quickly end her life. All that was needed now was a distraction, no matter how small.

Hermione could hardly move as it was, but it was worth a shot. With a strong swift of her body, she rocked herself so that she fell over sideways in the chair. She fell over hard, her head hitting the floor with a solid thump, next thing she knew she could hear spells and curses being flown above her head. Things were shattering. Someone shouted. Someone fell. Who was it? Ian or Draco? Hermione's hands were still bound tightly to the armrests, and her ankles tied together. She could feel them bruise terribly at her feeble attempts to set them free and figure out what was going on around her.

"Draco!" She called. Soon after she did, her limbs were free. Hermione took deep, shallow breaths and released herself from the chair. She stood, scanning the destroyed room for Draco only to be yanked by the hair and pulled into Ian's arms.

"Not even going to say thank you, for letting you go?" Ian breathed into her ear. Hermione struggled against him, but he only held onto her tighter.

"What did you do to him?!"

"Stop shouting, for Merlin's sake! I'm not deaf. He's over there. Alive, in case you're wondering."

Hermione looked to where Ian motioned and sure enough there he was. Draco had been knocked unconscious by a broken piece of the fireplace's mantle. It was amazing that his skull hadn't been cracked open by it. The bloody thing was pure marble.

"Why haven't you killed him?"

"I owe Draco two doses of misery." Ian laughed a little and began to drag Hermione away from the scene. "And one of them is to have him wake and see you dead."

Hermione had no wand, but she still had her hands. She swung an arm upward and reached for Ian's eyes. She scratched him as hard as she could and pleasure filled Hermione's heart at the sound of Ian yell. She pushed him into the destroyed fireplace and took off for her bedroom. She slammed the door after self and began tearing her room apart.

Yes, she was still on wand probation from the Ministry, but Draco had hidden a spare wand in the bedroom should either one of them needed it. But before she could even begin looking for it, Hermione had her hands above her head to shade it from the debris of her bedroom door that Ian had just blasted apart. Before she was thrown against the closet door, she could see that one of Ian's eyes was bloodied, making it in no way possible for him to see out of it. Hermione shook her head to rid the blurriness of her eyes. She then felt Ian grab a handful of her hair, thrusting her head backwards and into the door.

Hermione let out a groan that could hardly escape her throat. Her head was utterly pounding by now and there was a pressure behind her eyes that made her feel lightheaded.

"Look at me, Hermione." Ian's voice rang in her ears. Truth be told she couldn't look at anything. She didn't like how her head was feeling. Surely it didn't take much to receive a concussion, did it? Either way, she forced herself to see. In the end there were two Ians starting at her which meant twice the hatred.

Hermione felt weak all over. She attempted to slap him, but Ian merely caught her hand. His laugh at her feeble effort made her angry, and with what little strength she had left she managed to slap him with her other hand. A pretty good hit with a hand that wasn't her predominate one if she didn't say so herself, but that didn't suit Ian too well and he returned the favor. She could taste a bit of flood in her mouth by now and spat on the floor.

"…You never answered my question." Hermione said softly. "If you remember what your true face looks like."

Hermione couldn't tell if Ian was smiling or not, but she would've bet a thousand galleons that he was. With great disgust, she felt him put a hand on her cheek and caress it as though he was kneeling in front of someone he cared about.

"My true face no longer exists."

Hermione was waiting for Ian to curse her. Instead she head Draco's voice, ordering him to get away from her. She tried to focus her eyes as best she could and instinctively drew her feet up to her body as Draco charged in. He tackled Ian; punching him in the face several times until Hermione could no longer hear Ian's protests. She could see Draco vaguely, pulling out his wand from his pocket and pointing it over Ian's motionless body.

 _Don't kill him…_ Hermione wanted to say. By all rights Ian deserved everything he got, but this could've been Draco's reprieve. To ruin that by taking a life…it wasn't worth it. Hermione strained her mouth to speak, but other words interrupted her. Harry and Ron had come, and while Ron was pulling Draco off of Ian, telling him Hermione's very sentiments, Harry was looking her over, trying to get her eyes to focus.

"Open your eyes, Hermione." Harry was telling her. "Try to follow my finger. Come on,"

Hermione tried her best, but she knew that Ian's banging her head against the door as well as her first head hit when she fell over in the chair hadn't made her the most focused person in the world. All she wanted was Draco and she called for him. She could hear Ron telling him that he had to get out of there.

"Aurors are on the way, Malfoy." Ron was saying. "You've got to _leave_."

"Draco," Hermione called once more. She wished she could see properly. She knew that Draco had pushed Harry out of the way in order to kneel in front of her. His hand was on her forehead. He was removing strands of hair from her face. And he kissed her several times to get her full attention. It was funny how he was the first and only person Hermione could see clearly.

"Are you okay?" Draco asked. Hermione nodded. She placed her hands on the back of his neck and smiled broadly.

"You're the only person I wouldn't mind seeing two of." She gently laughed, but then frowned. Suddenly she could feel fresh tears come to her eyes because she knew that soon he'd be gone. Would she ever see him again? And if she did how long in the future would it be? A few months? A year? A few years?

The tears that Hermione was trying to hold back suddenly flowed. Draco said very little. He simply kept repeating that he loved her until the sounds of Aurors could be heard throughout the apartment.

* * *

Draco had been in the apartment waiting, watching, and listening shortly before Hermione had woken from unconsciousness and strapped to the chair. So she had been told, Günter had paid him a visit and told him of Ian's plans. When Hermione heard that she was beyond confused. What was Günter playing at? One minute he was on Ian's side and the next on Draco's. But as she thought about it the clearer it became. He loved them both, so he helped them both. At least things turned out for the best in the end.

Hermione had been glad to know that Draco was safe. Draco had taken off just before Aurors came into the bedroom to arrest Ian. Harry had done as much intervention as he could. He held off Aurors to give Draco and Hermione enough time to give each other teary goodbyes, but Harry knew that no matter how much time he gave them, it wouldn't be enough. They loved each other; something he thought that he'd never say. Lies, deceit, and secrets had filled them from the moment Hermione had let Draco go after the whole Thorn incident, and yet neither Harry nor Ron could be mad at her.

The Ministry found that they couldn't be mad at her either. With Ian resurfacing and all the evidence against him, Hermione was offered a reprieve. More time had been added onto her wand probation after finally finding out that she had truly let Draco escape. For Draco's running, he still needed to be punished and therefore arrested, but Draco was nowhere to be found. Harry and Ron testified on Hermione's behalf that she had no idea what happened to him. The fact that she had suffered a concussion on the night that Draco fled helped with that.

And before Draco took off, he had promised that he'd write. "For as long as I can anyway," he joked, and Hermione cried at that. He'd write long enough to let her know how things were going and if he was alright, but then it would stop. She wouldn't know where he lived and she wouldn't know his new name. All owls she would be tempted to send containing photos of the baby girl she had just given birth to would come to naught. And that's what Hermione was thinking of as she laid in a St. Mungo's hospital bed.

The assistant Healer had just left her room. She had brought in a box of tissues for Hermione because she had used up the box that was already in the room with her incessant crying. "Who says crying is from pain?" The assistant Healer said with a smile. "Tears of joy, yes?"

Hermione had nodded, agreeing that her puffy eyes were due to joy, but far from it. Draco would never know that they had a daughter whom she thought of naming Catalina. It would haunt her every day -his ignorance. But what could she do? Continue to cry about it she supposed, but Ron would have none of that.

"They're going to run out of supplies soon because of you." Ron smiled as he dabbed at Hermione's eyes. She returned one and sniffled twice before taking a deep breath.

"Should I have told him, Ron?" Hermione asked solemnly. "It's much too late to ask, but-"

"Then don't ask. What's done is done. You have a beautiful daughter now. Don't forget that some good came out of all of this."

Hermione nodded. She blew her nose and nodded once more, telling Ron that he was right. And Catalina wouldn't be completely fatherless. Harry and Ron were among the first men she'd met, and they'd be there for her day in and day out. That was a good substitute, right?

"Mr. Weasley, would you mind signing a few things at the front desk on Miss Granger's behalf?"

"Oh, sure… I'll be right back, Hermione." Ron added to her and gave a nod to the Healer who had addressed him.

Though Ron had left, the Healer had not. Hermione didn't mind though. He had been in the delivery room when Catalina was born. She assumed that he was a new addition to St. Mungo's by the look on his face as the delivery was taking place. He had seemed in awe of it all and almost appreciative.

"How are you Healer Reid?"

"Call me Chris, please. And I should be asking you that question." Chris laughed. "How are you and your daughter?"

"We're fine. I'm sure she's doing much better than I am though. I'm terrified of being a mother."

"I'm sure you'll be wonderful at it. If you don't mind me asking, what did you name her?"

"Ugh, don't talk about names." Hermione said with a gentle laugh to ward off tension. She twiddled her thumbs out of nervousness. "I've been having difficulties in that department."

"Too many to choose from..?"

"Hmm, I wish that was the problem. Her first name was easy, but unfortunately her last name is what's driving me mad. What I have in mind is… It would raise a lot of questions."

Chris frowned. He took a few steps toward her and said affirmatively, "Give her your last name. She'd be lovely with either name."

Hermione stared at him oddly. "But you don't even know the other name I was considering-"

"Yes I do." Chris smiled. He hadn't stopped drifting closer to her side. He was inches away from her by now and Hermione was contemplating on summoning another Healer until he did something unexpected. He reached out and touched her face. Instead of feeling violated or even frightened of this sudden contact, she felt safe. Hermione stared into Chris' eyes and nearly cried.

"Whether it's my last name, yours, or something completely made up, she'll be a Malfoy no matter what."

Hermione pulled Draco into a hug that certainly would've broken him in half. She resumed her crying, this time out of happiness and not despair as it had been before. "You're insane, do you know that?" She asked as she kissed him. "Draco, you're absolutely mad."

Draco greedily accepted the kisses she was giving him and pushed back some of the hair that had fallen across her face. His own face was holding a smile that was too big for his cheeks to contain, and even then he smiled bigger. "Yes, I'm mad. But it's only because you've made me so."

"How did you know that I was here? That I was pregnant at all?"

"I couldn't leave. Everything was prepared, but I just couldn't go. I rented a modest apartment just outside London, determined to talk to you so we could find another way out for us. I overheard you and Potter talking."

"Why stay hidden then? Why the letters? I thought you were on some deserted island for Merlin's sake."

"I'm sorry about that." Draco apologized. He cupped the side of her face and caressed it gently with his thumb. "But you had to believe it. You _still_ have to believe it for my devious little plan to work."

Hermione furrowed her brow. "What plan?"

Draco fished inside his pocket for a small vial filled with something. He held it in front of her face. "For this… Hermione, the Ministry won't stop looking for me. And after what happened, they're going to think that any man involved with you is me. I'm not going to leave you and our daughter. I refuse. So, we'll see how long this alias lasts. And if it falls apart like the others, you'll be blameless.

'When you drink this potion, Hermione, you'll forget this conversation we just had. As far as you're concerned, my name is Christopher Reid, and I'm a Healer. And I'm going to try very hard to win your love and marry you."

Hermione frowned. She stared at the vial in Draco's hand and began shaking her head. "Draco, no... I don't want to love anyone but you. To live a life with someone that isn't you-"

"You'll know that it's me." Draco encouraged. "You'll tell yourself otherwise, but in your heart you'll know."

 _In your heart you'll know…_ Hermione repeated in her mind. Other than Harry and Ron, she had never spent so much time with a man. She had lived with Draco and a smile came to her lips every time she heard his footstep or even when he gargled in the bathroom. She could pick him out of a crowd blindfolded if asked to, and because of that she slowly nodded.

"…Don't fall into this 'Reid' character too much, okay?" Hermione said as she slipped the vial into her own hand. "Don't want you getting mad at me if I slip up and call you Draco."

Draco laughed. "I promise I won't. Instead I'll do something odd."

"And what's that?"

"Smile,"

Hermione laughed along with him and Draco kissed her once more before she drank the potion. Before she would forget who he really was. Before he would have to make her fall in love with him all over again.

And it proved difficult, Draco realized. Naturally as a new mother and as a woman who had just lost the love of her life, Hermione didn't want to date. But "Christopher Reid" was persistent. Their first date was innocent, as was their second. It was hard for Draco to keep it that way when he knew Hermione's body better than he knew his own.

He managed, however. And when one of their dates ended in a kiss, that's when he heard it: "Draco." It had escaped Hermione' lips unexpectedly, and while she looked positively mortified, Draco was not. He did exactly what he said he'd do.

He smiled. And Draco was happier than he ever could be.

* * *

 **Author's note:** After all that a happy ending! Thank you SO MUCH for following this story and all of your support. The ending definitely lends itself to another story, the final one in the series called "Beyond Condemnation." As I've mentioned on my profile, it's not finished yet, but there's only a few chapters I have to wrap up. I plan on taking January as a "hiatus month" with the hopes to just write. If everything goes well, February starts the writing spree all over again :)

Look to my profile for any updates! You're welcome to PM me as well :D

-WP


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